Spawn of Kronos
by Agent R
Summary: Kronos is back from the dead, but he's not looking for Duncan or Methos...he's looking for his son...someone they both know.
1. Chapter 1

Spawn of Kronos

"Are you sure about this?" Amber asked.

"Yes, I think it's time you meet her," Shane replied.

"I don't know, I've never done this before," Amber said.

"I didn't figure you had…come on."

Shane pushed open the gate to the cemetery and they stepped in, each with a bouquet of flowers. They walked down the rows, glancing at some of the graves as they went by, until finally they came to the elm tree, and Rachel's grave beside it. Shane knelt down beside the grave and placed his bouquet down first, a fresh bunch of black roses.

"Hello Rachel," he said, "I've brought someone with me today…I want you to meet a friend of mine..."

Amber knelt down by the grave and placed her bouquet beside Shane's, a fresh bunch of red poppies.

"Hello," she said nervously, "Shane's told me a lot about you and…it's nice to get a chance to speak to you…I don't know if you can hear me where you are…or even if you'd want to…but I must say it has certainly been interesting knowing Shane…I think, in a different way, I'm seeing what you saw in him…and I promise, I'll take care of him…I've taught him what I know on how to fight…he's known all his life how to survive…uh…I really don't know anything else to say, except that…uh, if you see my parents where you are…tell them I said hello."

"That was nice," Shane said.

"And I meant every word of it, anyone thinks they can screw with you, they're going to have to kill me first," Amber said.

"You don't need to worry about me," Shane told her, "you were right…I've known how to survive all my life…ever since I first started fighting Immortals…I've always won…that's why I never trained with you too much…I was worried that I might kill you, by accident of course."

"Of course," Amber said, "until last Independence Day, I never knew you had it in you to actually behead an Immortal."

"That's one of the surprising things about me," Shane said.

"So I'm seeing…but it turned out rather well…we had a good time, Mac's still alive…and Rachel…is still down in the ground…right where she belongs."

"Yes…"

"And that's good," Amber replied, "the way I see it is, you've had enough crap happen to you already…you don't need a misdemeanor the size of Texas hanging over your head…I mean, so far in the past few years, you've lost your girlfriend, your mother, your chance of being left alone for the rest of your 'normal' life, not to mention you never knew your old man…I mean, to me that's not too much of a big thing, to you on the other hand, it's obviously a big thing."

"Well it's not so bad these days…when I was younger, then it used to bother me…"

"Well I would imagine it still does now and then…" Amber said.

"Yes…I still wonder a lot about my father."

"I'm sure you do…I knew my father and I wonder a lot about him."

"I just…I can't help but wonder, what was he like? What did he do?"

"Is he still alive?" Amber added.

"Probably…I don't know…I wish I could find out who he was."

"Well do you know your mother's whole name?"

"Yeah, so what?"

"Maybe you could put out like an ad or something…something that asks, who knew your mother, around the time of…whenever you must've been conceived…well I have a question, when your mother was alive, did you ever think to ask her?"

"Yes, she gave me the name he'd been using at the time…I tried to find out something about the guy and I got nowhere. It was just an alias he'd used when he came into town…he never gave anyone his real name…and he left before anything else could be determined about him."

"I don't know what to say," Amber said, "something like that could mean anything…maybe he had no choice and had to leave, maybe he was murdered, maybe he was just a bastard, I don't know…"

"I like to think it was the former," Shane said.

There was a moment of silence, Amber looked up and noticed the sky turning orange.

"I better get going soon…uh Shane…would you want to come over for dinner tonight?" Amber asked.

"What's for dinner?" Shane asked.

"I don't know…if Amanda's cooking then it strongly resembles road kill, if Methos is cooking, then it's an aphrodisiac, if Mac's cooking…it's healthy…so you really can't win any way."

"I'll come by…what time?" Shane asked.

Amber looked at her watch, "around six."

"Fine."

* * *

"You invited him over for dinner tonight?" Duncan asked.

"Yeah, I figured why not? He's got no plans for tonight, we have no plans for tonight, he doesn't go much anywhere after work, he stays in a graveyard all day, by himself…and most of his other friends wouldn't think enough of it to invite him."

"Why not?" Amanda asked.

"A lot of people don't want him at their homes," Richie answered.

"How come?" Amanda asked.

"Some people…are intimidated by him…I guess usually it's because of how he looks," Amber said.

"Well weren't you when you first met him?" Duncan asked.

"No Mac…when I first met him, I had a five year old child with me and he was coming our way, I thought he was going to kill us…but after we met, and got acquainted, it was fine…"

"Well I think it'll be nice to have him here," Amanda said.

"You'd enjoy having a shark to dinner," Duncan told her.

"There's a dented car parked in the driveway," Methos said.

"That's him," Richie said.

"Well dinner's about ready," Duncan said.

"Great, what're we having?" Amber asked.

"Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, baby peas, and French rolls," Duncan said.

Methos opened the front door and Shane came in carrying a large bag in his hand.

"Hello!" he said.

"Hello Shane, it's nice to have you here," Amanda said.

"Thank you, I'm glad to be anywhere," Shane replied.

Richie and Amber finished setting the dining room table and sat down, Shane went over to them, still carrying the bag.

"Uh…what's in the bag, Shane?" Richie asked.

Shane dropped the bag onto the middle of the table.

"Crabs," he replied.

"Crabs?" Richie repeated.

Amber stood up and opened the bag and looked in.

"Where'd you get all those?"

"Out of the water," Shane replied.

"Shane, why did you bring us a bag of crabs?" Richie asked.

"It's tradition," Shane answered.

"Tradition?" Richie asked.

"In my family it is," Shane replied, "actually…usually you're supposed to bring hamsters or ferrets or weasels or gerbils or…"

"We get it, Shane, we get it," Duncan said.

"Well anyway, I couldn't find any, so I brought crabs instead," Shane explained.

"What sort of tradition does this fall under?" Amber asked.

"When you're invited to someone's house for dinner, it is usually proper to bring a big bag of rodents," Shane said, "but considering we live near the water, sea creatures are acceptable too."

Methos and Amanda went over and looked in the bag.

"Well they look very nice Shane," Amanda said.

"Thank you."

"They're very big, but I really can't see cooking them," Amanda said.

"Oh no, they're not for eating, they're for pets," Shane said.

Everyone exchanged unusual looks, "well," Amanda said, "I can't really see them as pets either…but you might want to give them to the lady across the street, I'm sure she'd love them."

"Oh yes, do that," Duncan replied with bitter sarcasm, "let her get a bigger zoo to send over here every morning."

"Don't pay any attention to him," Methos said, "he's just in a bad mood…really Duncan, you should be glad he brought crabs and not lobsters."

"Yeah, that's true…he's had a few bad run ins with lobsters, ain't that right, Mac?" Richie asked.

"You kidding? I still have nightmares about it."

Methos picked up the bag off the table, "while they serve up dinner, I'll go find a temporary home for these…in the kitchen sink."

"After dinner you can take them to Maureen Widen across the street," Amanda told him as she followed Methos into the kitchen.

"Okay," Shane said.

"Well don't just stand around like a bump on a pickle," Richie said, "take a seat."

Shane picked up a chair from the dining room table.

"Where do I take it?" he asked.

"Sit down!" Richie and Amber told him.

Shane put the chair back down and sat on it, unfortunately he broke it and he fell on the floor. Amber and Richie got up and went over to help him up.

"Are you allright?" Amber asked.

"I think so…but your chair isn't," Shane replied.

"That's not a chair anymore," Richie said, "it's brunch for the termites."

They each grabbed him by the arm and helped him up.

"Well, now what?" Richie asked.

"I've got an idea," Amber went to the storage closet and rolled out a trunk, it would be high enough for Shane, so they put that in place of the broken chair.

"If that doesn't hold him, I don't know what will," Amber said.

Richie and Amber went back to their seats as Duncan and Amanda and Methos came out with the food and set it out on the table.

"What happened out here?" Duncan asked.

"What do you mean?" Richie asked.

"I mean what happened to the chair that used to be where Shane is?" Duncan asked.

"It got spooked," Shane replied.

"What?" Duncan asked, not believing what he'd just said.

"We had a little accident," Amber said.

"So I see," Duncan said.

"Never mind it," Amanda said, "the food's going to get cold…everybody just sit down and dish up."

* * *

After dinner was over, Amanda took the dishes to the kitchen, Duncan leaned back in his chair at the table, Methos went out to the front porch, and Shane went to take the crabs out of the sink.

"Well that was certainly something," Richie said.

"I agree, that was an interesting dinner," Amber said.

"Chicken!" Methos called from the front porch.

"Okay, and an interesting chicken, too," Amber added.

"Yeah, who knew that Mac's cooking could actually be tolerable?" Richie asked.

"Chicken!" Methos said again.

"Well, Methos doesn't seem to be complaining," Duncan said.

"Well Shane, I'd say it's about time you take Maureen over her new pets," Amanda said.

"Okay, I have the crabs," Shane said as he came out of the kitchen.

"Chicken!"

By now, everyone was irritated by Methos and decided to go see what he was screaming chicken for. They went out to the front porch and got their answer, Maureen Widen's chickens were running amuck in the front yard again. Shane handed the bag of crabs to Methos, jumped off the front porch and went after them. He picked them up one by one and took them back over to her house, spanking them the entire time.

"Bad chicken, bad, BAD chicken," he said.

After all the chickens were taken back, Shane also took the crabs over, while he did that, Duncan had a word with Methos.

"If you knew they were all out here, why did you just keep screaming chicken?" Duncan asked.

"To see how many times it would take before you came out to see what the bloody hell was going on," Methos replied.

Methos turned around and Duncan reached out to wring his neck from behind, but Methos turned around again and Duncan put his hands back at his sides.

Richie and Amber went back inside and pushed the trunk back into the closet and locked it.

"Well, what'd you think?" Amber asked.

"About what?" Richie asked.

"Having Shane over," Amber said.

"Oh…well it was something," Richie said.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just don't think everyone was fond of his eating the bread rolls with his feet," Richie said.

"Oh that wasn't anything, he was just doing what he's been doing all his life, it's what he knows to do…like the crabs," Amber said.

"Well all the same, I wouldn't try inviting him over again anytime soon," Richie replied.

"Probably just as well, if things go according to plan, we'll have our hands full for a while anyway," Amber said.

"True…Methos doesn't seem to be getting any better," Richie said, "every night it's basically the same thing."

"I know, I wish there was a way to find out what's causing this nightmare he's having," Amber said.

* * *

"Red sky tonight," Duncan noticed as he looked out from the porch.

"Red sky at night…sailor's delight," Methos said.

"I suppose I better get going then," Shane said as he jumped off the porch, "Rachel's probably going to wonder what's keeping me."

"Are you sure you should go?" Amanda asked.

"Oh yes…Rachel will worry if I don't tell her where I've been."

"Shane, don't you realize that a red sky means bad weather?" Amanda asked.

"That's nothing new, I knew there was bad weather coming when my pinkie toe swelled up like a grape this morning," Shane replied, "trust me, I've been through worse."

"Well…it was nice having you over, Shane, perhaps we can do it again sometime," Amanda said.

"Oh yeah," Duncan murmured, "maybe again in another century would be nice…"

"I'll look into it," Shane said.

"Well you know, Shane…the weather's supposed to get severe the next few nights…even worse than tonight may get…maybe you could stay the night here tomorrow?" Amanda suggested.

Duncan's eyes became large and he tilted his head to the side, "Amanda, would you mind repeating that?"

"I never got an invitation of the sort before," Shane said, "so why now?"

"I just thought you'd prefer spending the night here, rather than in the cemetery with heavy rain and howling winds and crashing thunder, and possibly hail the size of grapefruits."

Shane nodded slightly, "that would make sense…I'll see about it…goodbye."

Methos and Amanda waved goodbye, then turned back around to Duncan, who seemed ecstatic to see Shane leave.

"I think tonight went rather well," Amanda said.

"You would," Duncan said.

"Oh come on, MacLeod, it wasn't that bad," Methos said.

"Wasn't that bad?" Duncan repeated, "Methos, are you crazy?"

"What?" Methos asked, "what was so horrible about it?"

"He ate with his feet, he missed his mouth when he was drinking the wine and hit me with it…and what about that loaf of Italian bread?"

"What about it?" Methos asked.

"He broke it over my head!" Duncan replied.

"You told him to feel free to break bread," Methos told him.

"Yes, but I didn't mean on ME!" Duncan said.

"Well next time tell him where he can and can't break it," Amanda said.

Duncan grunted and balled his hands into fists, but he calmed down and headed back into the house with them.

"Well Amber, it was certainly nice having Shane here," Amanda said.

"It was?" she and Richie asked.

"Yes…in fact I invited him over tomorrow night…"

"For dinner?" Richie asked.

"No, to stay the night…I don't like the idea of him sleeping out in that graveyard during the kind of weather we're expecting tomorrow," Amanda replied.

"I thought you said he lived near the cemetery," Duncan said.

"He does…but he sleeps in the cemetery," Amber said.

"Well it makes sense to me," Richie said, "if he's asleep, he wants to make sure nothing's going to happen, so he sleeps where Immortals aren't going to bother him."

"Well why doesn't he ever stay in his house?" Duncan asked.

"I don't know really…I've never even seen the place," Amber said, "I have no idea what the joint's like…and you know Shane, usually he'll invite someone along for anything…if he doesn't want anyone to see his home, there must be a good reason."

* * *

Once Shane returned to the cemetery, he went down to Rachel's grave, he knelt down beside it and explained where he'd been.

"Oh boy Rachel, it was wonderful tonight, I wish you could've been there,"

He ignored the lightning that lit up the sky, and the crashing thunder that followed it up, in fact, aside from Rachel he was oblivious to just about everything.

"It was one of the better dinners I've been invited to," he said, "although…I don't think they liked my gift…oh sure, crabs aren't considered proper pets, but I thought they could get some use out of them…they want me to come over tomorrow night…Amanda thinks it would be safer than waiting out the weather here…so if I don't come home tomorrow night, you'll know that I'll be there…"

Thunder was heard seconds before the sky lit up once again, Shane could hear heavy winds blowing in.

"Well…I guess it's time to get some sleep…providing it doesn't rain in the morning, I have to get to work nice and early," Shane rolled over and leaned against the trunk of the elm tree beside Rachel's grave, "goodnight Rachel."

Within a short while, Shane was practically dead to the world, he slept soundly, ignoring the rain, the lightning, the noise…even while he was awake he had never noticed the man standing outside the cemetery gates. The same man who had stood there for over an hour, watching him carefully…this man was more or less a gruesome sight, he had short, dark, spiked hair that looked as if it'd been a butchered haircut, an obvious growth of stubble, and a long scar over his right eye that started above his eyebrow and went down half his cheek. He stood there watching Shane the entire time, and he grinned an unusual, almost sinister grin.

This was not the first time he had been watching Shane, he had been watching him for quite a while now. Aside from the fact that it was his job, it was also at the request of another Watcher, one who seemed very anxious to find out about this young Immortal. The man turned around and walked away, he'd get back to headquarters, and he'd tell his friend what he had found out earlier that day.

Just wait until Kruger finds out about this, the man thought to himself, the guy will probably have a stroke or a heart attack when he hears this.


	2. Chapter 2

Edward White was Shane's new Watcher, his last Watcher, Audrey Klopeck, had suddenly died several weeks earlier, so he was brought in as a replacement. Sudden heart attack, they told him, was how she died, so he didn't give it a second thought. After a couple of days, he'd met another Watcher, Jason Kruger, they literally ran into each other, knocking one another on the floor, and when they got up, they couldn't believe what they saw. They looked exactly alike, their skin, their hair, their facial features, even their scars were exactly the same. After getting acquainted, the two men discussed their cases.

"The Immortal I'm watching is Shane Pelka…actually I'm his new Watcher…you probably heard the last one died recently," Edward said.

"I can relate to that, the one I'm assigned to…her Watcher died a couple of months ago…his throat had been ripped open."

"Did they ever find out who did it?"

"No…some people think it might've been her, she has a horrible temper and a history of violence…but I seriously doubt it."

"Who is it?" Edward asked.

"Her name is Amber Jenzon…she's friends with Shane Pelka…"

"No kidding," Edward said, "imagine that."

Over the weeks, they'd discussed the two Immortals, compared several things about the two, recently, Kruger had requested that Edward find something out about Shane. And now, Edward had gone to Kruger's home that night, after leaving the cemetery, to give Kruger the news.

"You're absolutely positive about this?"

"Kruger, trust me, these are the most accurate tests available, there's no other possible explanation."

"Imagine that…I don't suppose this happens too often, huh?"

"To be honest, Kruger…this is the only case I've ever heard about a Watcher being the parent to an Immortal."

Shortly after getting acquainted, Edward told Kruger everything he had found out about Shane, from their files they found out that his mother was a woman named Amanda Pelka, who had died only a couple of years ago. It had never been determined who his father was, Edward had guessed whoever the man was, he was just a son of a bitch who had sweet-talked his mother, spent the night, and then picked up and left. Kruger dropped the bombshell on Ed, revealing that he had been with Amanda roughly around the time that she must have conceived Shane.

At the time he'd said it, Ed choked on the scotch he'd been drinking, "you want to find out what?"

"If he really is my son."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes."

Edward thought about it for a minute before answering, "allright…I'll see what it is."

"You're sure you could find out whether he is or not?" Kruger asked.

"Sure…all I'd have to do is get some DNA from you, and from him."

"How would you do that?"

"I have my ways," Edward explained, "I can get it from him when he goes to sleep tonight…and then in a couple of days, I should be able to find out."

That was the last they had discussed of it, Edward had gotten the DNA samples with little trouble, Kruger was more than willing to get it done, and he'd gotten Shane's while he had been asleep one night. Now, Kruger had his answer.

"You're not really going to see him, are you?" Edward asked.

"And why not?" Kruger asked.

"You're a Watcher, he's an Immortal, do you know what would happen if the other Watchers found out? They'd kill both of you…don't you remember what happened in '95 with MacLeod and Dawson?"

"Duncan MacLeod?" Kruger asked.

"Yes."

Kruger scoffed, "he was a fool, a complete and total fool! If he died, he'd deserve it."

"I wouldn't say that if I were you," Edward said, "you don't know what some of the Watchers think of MacLeod…"

"Perhaps I don't give a damn what they think of him," Kruger sneered.

"Well don't be telling them that, they could kill you if you said the wrong thing to them," Edward said.

"Well that's why no one is ever going to find out," Kruger said.

* * *

Methos rolled and tossed and turned in his bed and still found it impossible to get comfortable. He just couldn't sleep, he'd been trying for half an hour and had no luck. So, he decided to go out for a while, get a drink, or six, maybe by the time he got back he'd be too tired to stay awake long enough to go to bed. It sounded like a good idea to him, so he threw back the sheets and sat up in bed and pulled on his boots. 

"Where're you going?" Amber asked.

Amber was spending the night in his room on the couch, she wanted to be ready incase he started screaming in his sleep again.

"Out for a while," Methos said.

"But to do what?" Amber asked.

"To get a drink, maybe more," Methos said, "go back to bed."

"Fine…"

Amber rolled over on her side and went back to sleep. With that taken care of, Methos slipped out into the hall, down the back stairs and headed out the back door. He headed down to the Graveyard Shift, a very notorious bar as far as he was concerned, it was where he found most of his students at night during the last semester. He went in and went straight over to the bar and ordered a beer, he advised the bartender to keep them coming.

He was a wreck, every night in the past week he'd woken up with someone jerking him around, or shaking him, or slapping him…one time he'd woken up when Amanda threw cold water on him. Every night he'd had nightmares more grotesque than anything he'd ever seen in his life. He found it unusual, 5,000 years of bloodshed not being enough to prepare him for these nightmares, he couldn't figure it out. One thing he had considered was maybe he'd been sober for so long that it was starting to take effect on him while he slept, so he figured maybe after a night of drinking, he'd actually be able to sleep.

Two hours later he left the bar, not feeling much better than he had when he'd gone in. He was still wide awake, so he wouldn't be able to sleep, so he decided to take himself for a walk, he took a detour through an alley, and suddenly, he felt the presence of another Immortal. At first he figured that somebody had found out he sneaked out and had been following him, but he found out he was wrong when he saw the Immortal approaching. It was too dark to make out who it was, but he knew…he could tell from the sinister laugh, the long spiky hair, the way he carried his sword, Methos knew it was him, and he also knew it had to be impossible.

"This can't be," Methos said, "you're dead!"

Methos heard that same sinister sneer that had haunted him for thousands of years.

"Come now, dear Brother…do you really think that the confinements of Hell would be strong enough to hold me?"

Methos didn't answer…he couldn't do anything, he was frozen with fear, he couldn't believe that this was happening, but the terrifying truth of the matter was that it was happening. Kronos was alive!

"What's the matter, Methos? Didn't expect to see me again, did you?" Kronos asked.

Methos tried to answer, but he couldn't, he couldn't risk saying the wrong thing, he knew what the consequence for that would be…although it seemed to him it didn't matter because Kronos would do to him whatever he pleased.

"Don't worry, it's not your head I'm after," Kronos assured him, "I'm going to give you a choice."

"A choice?" Methos finally asked.

"Yes…it would seem that the only thing that's important to you is staying alive…and if you do, then you'll join me again."

"And…if I don't?" Methos asked.

"Then someone will die," Kronos answered.

"Who?" Methos asked.

"Someone very close to you…a relative, I believe."

Methos' heart stopped, "God, no…"

"His name is Richard Ryan…and if you refuse my offer, I'll take his head."

"Kronos!" Methos exclaimed, "if you go anywhere near him I swear I'll…"

"You'll what?" Kronos asked, "don't flatter yourself, Methos…you couldn't take my head then, and you can't do it now…you'll never be able to, and do you know why? Because we're alike…you haven't changed…you're still like me…you see us as the equals we are and you know that means if you see me worthy of dying, you see yourself as the same…and you want so desperately to live, isn't that right? That is proof you haven't changed…"

Methos reached inside of his coat for his sword, but he stopped when he saw what Kronos had pulled out of his jacket. It was a knife, the blade was aimed right for his heart.

"You know what I think?" Kronos asked, "I think you need to be reminded of what happens when you upset me, Brother…"

Kronos flung the knife into Methos' chest and he fell to the ground, Methos wasn't going to have this thing resting in his heart for the next three days while Kronos did as he pleased with his corpse. He grabbed at the knife and jerked it out, but it was too little, too late, the severe damage had been done, and he died, leaving Kronos free to do whatever came to his sadistic mind.

* * *

Methos could feel Kronos jerking him up by the collar of his shirt and shaking him, he could hear Kronos telling him to wake up. Suddenly, the realization set it that it wasn't Kronos he was hearing. Methos opened his eyes and saw Amber hovering over him, with her hands gripping the neck of his shirt. 

"What happened?" he asked.

"You were screaming again," Amber said, "was it the same thing, where Kronos breaks out of hell and comes back for Richie?"

"Yes…only this time it was a bit different," Methos said.

"How?"

"He gave me an ultimatum, either I join him again, or then he would kill Richie…"

"Knowing Kronos as you did, he probably would've done it regardless," Amber said.

"What time is it?" Methos asked.

Amber looked over at the clock, "Two o' clock…you fell asleep about an hour ago…"

"Where's Richie?"

"Across the hall, asleep."

Methos rolled over onto his side and closed his eyes.

"Are you allright now?" Amber asked.

"I think so…"

"Methos…"

"What?"

"Maybe it's none of my business, but I'm getting worried about you…you've been having basically the same dream for almost two weeks now…what's going on?"

"If I knew, I probably wouldn't be having the dream, would I?" Methos asked.

"I suppose not…"

There was a knock on the door and Richie came in, looking a bit worried.

"Is everything allright?" he asked.

"Everything's fine, go back to bed," Methos said.

"Yeah right…I hear screaming like that, nobody gets any sleep," Richie said.

"Richie," Amber said.

"What?"

"Would you mind staying in here tonight?" Amber asked.

"What?"

"I just think that the both of us should be in here tonight, incase he has this damn nightmare again," Amber said.

"What do you plan to do?" Methos asked, "sleep on either side of me?"

Amber and Richie looked at each other for a minute.

"Why not?" Richie asked, "the bed's big enough for the three of us."

"What?" Methos asked.

The only response he got was the two of them jumping on the bed and landing beside him.

"Well, I suppose it could be worse…I rememberearly on whenthe Horsemen were together,and having to sleep with Kronos and Silas and Caspian, that was awful."

"Oh yeah, how come?" Richie asked.

"Well for one thing, we all slept together…"

"That would be pretty bad," Amber said.

"Silas tended to roll in his sleep…"

"Which probably meant a few broken ribs," Amber added.

"And I remember many times we woke up covered in feathers," Methos said.

"How come?" Richie asked.

"Because Caspian was particularly fond of chickens," Methos said.

"You mean he ate them?" Richie asked.

"No, he went to bed with them," Methos replied.

Richie rolled his eyes and Amber got up on her side.

"Richie…"

"What?"

"I'm starting to reconsider sleeping in the same bed as him," Amber pointed at Methos.

"Oh be quiet," Methos said, "actually, I'm glad the two of you are here…I don't think either if you could realize what goes through my mind when I have this bloody nightmare…"

"Try us," Amber said.

"It's a part of my life that I tried for so long to keep buried, I don't need it unearthing itself again…not now…I can't have it happening again."

"And why should you?" Amber asked, "after all, the Horsemen are dead, aren't they? Dead and buried, all but one…you're not a Horseman anymore, never will be again…you're not like the others…murderous bastards, didn't change in over 2,000 years…they deserved to die…they're dead, and the dead don't come back!"

"Not usually," Methos said.

"Look, it's 2 in the morning, after what's been going on, I say we could all use some rest," Richie said.

"No argument there," Methos said.

"Fine with me," Amber reached over and turned off the lights.

"Goodnight…"

* * *

Methos woke up with some unwelcome weight holding him down, he saw Amber on the right side of him with her knee pressing against his, her elbow on his ribs, and her head on his shoulder, looking on the left side, Richie had his head on his other shoulder and his left arm draped over Methos' chest. Methos managed to slip out from in between them and slipped down to the kitchen. Duncan was already down there, and he seemed a bit surprised when he saw Methos. 

"You look like something the cat spit up," Duncan said.

"Thank you, MacLeod, I love you too," Methos bitterly replied.

"What happened last night?" Duncan asked.

"What do you think happened? Another bloody nightmare, that's what."

"The same one?" Duncan asked.

"Yes the same one," Methos sneered.

"What happened?" Duncan asked.

"I wound up with Richie and Amber sleeping in the bed with me…"

"How'd that go over?" Duncan asked.

"Not too well…I must've had another nightmare after that because Amber woke me up to tell me I was shaking the bed…Richie woke up long enough to ask why we moved the bed to Coney Island…"

Duncan laughed, ordinarily Richie could sleep with a typhoon and never wake up.

"MacLeod, I think I'm losing my mind," Methos said.

"What?"

"I mean it, I think I'm going crazy after all these years," Methos said, "why else would this keep happening to me? It's been two weeks, and I'm still having the same damn dream every night."

"I don't think that makes you crazy…" Duncan said.

"No?" Methos asked, "then you tell me what's going on…this has never happened to me before…"

"I don't know…" Duncan replied, "I can't make any sense of it myself…Kronos is dead and buried, he has been for five years…and we both know that he couldn't come back."

"I know that, but it doesn't change what's happening," Methos said.

* * *

The day had started off dark, storm clouds had blown in early in the morning, and they didn't seem to be going anywhere. A couple hours later, it began to rain, it started off as a slight drizzle, then within an hour, it built up to a severe thunderstorm. Everything imaginable was happening, pouring down rain, howling winds, crashing thunder, near blinding lightning, hail the size of marble shooters. 

"Duncan, is the rain letting up?" Amanda asked.

"Not a chance in hell," Duncan said, "take a look out the window."

Amanda went over to the front door and looked out.

"My God," she said, "the sidewalk looks like a river."

"So does the street," Methos said, watching from the front window in the next room, "thank God we live on a hill, otherwise this could be a real problem."

"Amber," Amanda said, "where's the cemetery where Shane is?"

"Don't worry, he's higher up on a hill than we are," Amber replied, "besides, by now he's probably at work."

"Work? What's he do?" Duncan asked.

"Demolition, it's amazing how he can tear apart a place with just a crowbar and a sledgehammer," Richie explained.

"How would he be able to work in weather like this?" Amanda asked.

"You'd be surprised what he can do," Amber replied.

"I hope he'll come over soon," Amanda said.

"You told him tonight, he'll be here," Amber said, "he never misses an invitation."

"Which bring me to a question," Duncan said, "who's bed is he going to be sleeping in?"

"I wouldn't worry," Richie said, "with Shane here, I doubt any of us are going to be getting much sleep."

"Oh joy," Duncan said bitterly.

* * *

The storm quit for a while, then the rain started again, then it let up, then it was hailing again…that continued for the next seven hours…Duncan was working on dinner when they realized they had a visitor at the door. Richie answered the door and Shane came in. 

"Am I still invited to stay the night?" he asked.

"Haven't heard any changes yet," Richie told him, "come on in."

Shane came in, carrying another large bag.

"Oh Shane…crabs again?" Amanda asked.

"No," Shane put the bag down on the table and opened it up.

Cats jumped out and ran everywhere, Duncan and Richie and Amber started chasing them and caught them by the tails.

"You brought cats?" Methos asked.

"I couldn't find rodents," Shane replied.

"Shane, have you been out in the storm all day?" Amanda asked.

"Yes…you know some of that hail got to be the size of tomatoes," Shane said.

"Shane, if it was that bad before, why didn't you come here sooner?" Amanda asked.

"You told me to come tonight, and I didn't want to be rude, so I wanted until tonight, and here I am," Shane replied.

"We got 'em, Shane, bring the bag in here," Amber called from the kitchen.

"If you'll excuse me," Shane said.

He picked up the bag and carried it into the kitchen.

"You know Amanda," Methos said, "you've really started acting like a mother hen to Shane…what's going on?"

"Huh?"

"Oh come on, it's certainly obvious..."

Amanda shrugged her shoulders, "I happen to feel sorry for him, allright?"

"I don't know why, he's not that horribly off," Methos said.

"So what's for dinner?" Shane asked.

"I have no idea, it's something Mac's cooking," Richie said.

"And you know what that means," Amber said.

"Well I didn't hear any complaints last night," Duncan said.

"That's because you did all the complaining yourself," Richie told him.

"That's enough," Amanda said, "dinner's about ready…let's get the table ready…"

"Fine, come on Richie, let's get the trunk out of the closet," Amber said.

* * *

The first course was a vegetable soup Duncan had cooked with peas, carrots, potatoes, bits of meat and tomato juice. 

"Allright everyone, dig in."

"Don't mind if I do," Shane replied.

Shane stuck his spoon into the soup and started throwing it everywhere, he looked up and saw everyone looking at him oddly, Duncan especially, he wound up wearing most of the soup.

"Shane," he said, "if I'd meant that literally, I would've given you a spade instead of a spoon."

"Oh…oops," Shane replied.

"Well Duncan," Amanda said, "why don't you clean yourself off, and I'll bring out the main course."

"Fine…"

Duncan got up and headed into the kitchen. Amber grabbed the pitcher of water and poured a glass.

"Do you want some water, Shane?" Amber asked.

"Okay…"

Amber poured Shane a glass and he took it, he opened his mouth and tossed the water out of the glass, but he missed it. He looked over and saw that Methos was soaked to the bone instead.

"Oops."

Methos toweled his face off and sat back in the chair.

"Well," he said, "I've had my shower for the week."

Amanda came back out carrying a plate with corn on the cob, and tray with a roast beef on it, Duncan came out carrying a big bowl of mashed potatoes and another bowl of spinach and a tray of dinner rolls and olives and they set it out at the table.

Everyone grabbed at the corn and used a knife to butter it, except for Shane, who rolled his into the butter, then he grabbed at a roll with his fork, it sent olives flying everywhere.

While everyone else dished up the roast beef and potatoes, Shane tried getting some peas with a spoon, but he kept flinging them everywhere, so he grabbed them with his hands.

"Well this is certainly an interesting dinner," Methos said.

"It certainly is," Duncan agreed, "Shane…"

Shane looked up at him, "yes?"

"Is there a problem?" Duncan asked.

"No," Shane replied, "is there supposed to be?"

"No," Duncan groaned.

"Shane," Amanda said, "how's your dinner?"

"Very nice…I haven't been invited to too many dinners in my life," Shane said.

"Gee, I wonder why," Duncan murmured.

Duncan felt something against his leg under the table and whispered to Amanda, "did you kick me?"

"Yes," she replied.

"In that case, OW!" Duncan whispered.

By the time dinner was over, the storm had built up again, the rain seemed to be coming down so hard and so fast that it was pounding against the house.

"I can't imagine the rain getting much worse than this," Amanda said.

Methos looked out the window, "it's not rain…it's hailing again."

"What?" Amanda asked.

They went to the window and looked out, there was hail the size of marbles hitting the ground and bouncing up onto the porch. Pretty soon, it got to the size of silver dollars and really started beating the siding of the house.

"It's a good thing that's siding, otherwise come morning this house would need a hell of a paint job," Richie said.

"Well don't think this is the worst of it," Amber said, "they're saying we're supposed to get about two inches of rain tonight."

"Well, I think I can honestly say that things can't possibly get any worse," Duncan said.

In a split second the lights had gone out and come back on, a few seconds later, all the power went out.

"In four hundred years you haven't learned yet?" Methos asked, "never say things can't get any worse, they always find a way."


	3. Chapter 3

"MacLeod."

"Yes?"

"The next time you decide to say something…don't."

Duncan sighed.

"Mac…"

"What?"

"Can you see anything?" Richie asked.

"No."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"That's all I wanted to know," Amber said.

Duncan felt people kicking him from all directions, he realized that it was everyone standing around him. His leg met with a familiar high heel and he caught the foot that wore it.

"Aha! I got you, Amanda."

"Why MacLeod, I do declare," Methos faintly laughed.

Duncan dropped the foot and got kicked by the twin heel from the other side, he grabbed it and said, "Richie, this better not be you."

"It isn't," Amanda assured him as she kicked him with the other foot.

Duncan dropped her foot and the kicking continued, now he basically had no idea who was kicking him where. After getting kicked in a few final places, he stepped back from them and made sure they weren't going to try it again.

"Enough!" he said, "when did I become a punching bag?"

"Around the time that the power went out," Methos said.

Everyone became quiet and they heard Shane in the other room, making some kind of weird noise. Richie and Amber felt along the walls to get into the next room to see if he was okay.

"Shane!" Amber called.

"Are you allright?" Richie asked.

"I'm fine, but we have a problem," Shane told them.

"What?" Richie asked.

"I didn't take the cats over to the lady across the street, and they clawed their way out of the bag," Shane told them.

"You mean they're loose in this house?" Richie asked.

They heard Amanda scream from the living room.

"Apparently so," Amber said, "come on!"

"Amanda, what's wrong?" Richie asked.

"Something touched me!" Amanda replied, sounding completely terrified.

"That's the first time in 355 years that I've ever heard you complain about it," Duncan replied.

"Mac, you're not even touching her," Richie told him.

"I know, as I said, it's the first time I've EVER heard her complain about it, never mattered who was touching her," Duncan said.

"Where is it?" Richie asked.

"What?" Methos asked.

"Where are you being touched?" Richie asked.

"Down by my feet!" she cried.

Shane crawled on the floor beside Amanda's feet and picked the critter up, "Nestor!" he said, "you were a very bad kitty!"

"What?" Amanda asked.

"Shane's cats got out of the bag, they're all over the house," Richie explained.

"I don't believe this," Duncan said, "how many are there?"

"Well let's see," Shane said, "I've got Nestor with me, there's still Bobby, Judy, Irene, Irving, Irvon…uh…fourteen kitty cats."

"Fourteen?" everyone repeated.

"Shane, where did you find fourteen cats to bring here tonight?" Methos asked.

"Garbage cans," Shane replied.

"Why does that not surprise me?" Duncan asked.

Duncan felt a heel kicking him in the thigh again, "Ow!"

"What do you mean?" Methos asked.

"I went through all the garbage cans with a club ready to knock them out and put them in the bag and bring them here," Shane said.

"Next time, try tying all their tails together and see how they run," Richie said.

"Richie, you're horrible," Amanda said.

"Yes you are," Duncan agreed, "in fact if I can get my hands on you, I'm going to take you over my knee and spank you…"

"Well then in that case we'll just have to see that that doesn't happen," Amber said.

Lightning flashed and lit up the room for a second, Richie ran off and Duncan got up to follow him, but when the room became dark again, two people grabbed him and dropped him on the floor.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"What was what for?" Methos asked.

"You know."

"No I don't…what?" Methos asked.

"You…"

"I didn't do anything, MacLeod, you'll have to blame someone else."

The power came back on and the room lit up again.

"Well where'd Richie go?" Amber asked.

"I found two of the cats," Richie said as he reentered the room.

"Where are they?" Amanda asked.

"In my coat," Richie explained.

"Come on, let's get them all together and get them out of here," Amanda said.

"You can't put them back out in the rain!" Shane said, "it's cruelty to animals."

"Who said anything about putting them out?" Methos asked, "we can put them in Duncan's bed."

Duncan balled his hands into fists and muttered, "one of these days, Methos…"

After the cats had been found, and put in a place for the night, everyone gathered into the living room again.

"Well now what?" Amanda asked.

"Well…now that the power's back on, we get upstairs without falling over anything, and leave them alone," Methos said.

"Why?" Duncan asked.

Methos pulled Duncan's hair from behind.

"Okay, let's go," Duncan said.

"Have a good time down here," Amanda said.

"And don't tear up the house," Duncan added as they headed up the stairs.

They waited until Duncan, Amanda, and Methos had gone upstairs, then they started talking.

"Well, what'll we do first?" Shane asked.

"Well since they're going to be upstairs, and now that the power's on, let's see a movie," Richie said.

"What movie?" Amber asked.

Richie went behind the TV set and pulled out a tape in a clear clamshell, "Urban Legend."

"Richie, you know I hate that movie," Amber said.

"Well, now we're even," Richie said.

"What?" Amber asked.

"You kept me up last Friday night with your movie of choice, "Dementia"."

"Okay, so I guess we are even," Amber said, "start the damn movie."

* * *

"I can't hear anything," Duncan said.

"Good," Amanda said.

"Good?" Duncan repeated.

"Yes, you shouldn't be eavesdropping on them anyway," Amanda said.

"Amanda, I'm telling you, when they're quiet, panic," Duncan said.

"Oh give it a rest," Amanda said, "what could possibly go wrong?"

"Do you even have to ask?" Duncan asked.

"What worries you the most?" Methos asked, "having Shane over for the night, or leaving the three of them alone down there?"

"All of it," Duncan replied.

"Oh Duncan, calm down," Amanda said, "nothing's going to happen."

* * *

"Well Shane, what'd you think of the movie?" Richie asked.

"It was interesting," Shane said.

"Yeah, about as interesting as a walkthrough in the slaughterhouse," Amber said.

"Like I said, now we're even," Richie said.

"Fine, now that we're even, what now?" Amber asked.

No one answered because by that time, the power had gone out again.

"Great, just great, is this going to keep up all night?" Amber asked.

"I don't know…but we can't stay in the dark all night," Richie said.

"Well what would you suggest?" Amber asked.

"There's a flashlight down here somewhere, remember?" Richie asked, "I'm going to find it."

"Great…now Shane…where are you?" Amber asked.

"I'm right here," Shane replied.

"Great, I don't want anyone getting lost while we're stuck in the dark," Amber said.

"No problem," Shane said as he grabbed a hold of Amber.

"Shane, that is not my elbow," Amber said.

"Oops, sorry…"

"I don't think Richie will be coming back for a while, so why don't we sit down and get comfortable? It could be a long night," Amber said.

"I agree, where's the sofa?" Shane asked.

Amber felt behind them, "this way."

So they found the couch and fell back on it.

"So…" Shane said.

"Uh…" Amber replied.

"What's new?" Shane asked.

"Nothing you haven't heard yet," Amber said.

"Oh…"

"What about you?" Amber asked.

"Well, the caretaker of the cemetery's been coming around a lot more lately…I don't know why, but I've been seeing a lot more of him than usual," Shane said.

"Who is he?" Amber asked.

"I don't know, just the caretaker's all I know…"

"Yeah…have I seen him?"

"I don't think so," Shane replied, "he's thin and he has this short red ratty hair and a matching mustache."

"You're right, I don't think I've ever seen the guy," Amber said.

A bright light flashed into the room as Richie came in, "is everything allright in here?"

"I should hope so," Amber replied, "as far as I know, everything's the same as it was when you left."

"Very funny," Richie said, "Shane, how bout you?"

"I'm fine…"

"Richie…"

"What?"

"What are we supposed to do now that the power's out? There's no telling when it's going to come on again," Amber said.

"I know…what time is it?" Richie asked.

Amber turned on the light on her watch, "10:20."

"Well, it's too early to go to bed, we'll have to find something to do," Richie said as he sat down on the couch.

"I'm for raiding the fridge before the food goes bad," Amber said as she got up.

"Sounds like an idea to me," Shane said as he got up as well.

"Eh, what the hell?" Richie asked.

As they got into the kitchen, the power came on again and Richie shut off his flashlight, then just the lights went off.

"This is getting tired," Amber said.

"I have an idea," Richie said.

"Congratulations," Shane told him.

"Maybe there's something wrong with the fuse box, I seriously doubt that this would keep happening from the storm," Richie said.

"If you want to go find out, you know where the fuse box is," Amber said, "that's the problem with living in Florida, no basement."

Richie took the flashlight and headed over to the closet where the fuse box was and took a look at it.

"Do you need a hand?" Amber asked.

"No thanks, remember what happened last time? You pulled the wrong switch and we didn't get the power on for a week," Richie said.

Amber went after him anyway, with Shane following her, "is it the fuse box?"

"Yeah," Richie replied, "one of the switches is on the wrong side."

That was when Amber got real obnoxious, "oh come on Richie, let me throw the switch."

"Forget it," Richie said, "the last thing we need is the house burning down," Richie said.

"Can I do it?" Shane asked.

"What is it with you two? You sound like a couple of five-year-olds," Richie said.

"Can I, can I, can I?" Shane asked.

"Ugh," Richie groaned, "allright, now it's the switch on the bottom, watch which switch you flip."

"Switch which watch?" Shane asked.

"I didn't say switch a watch, I said watch which switch is switch," Richie said.

"Where's the witch!" Shane asked.

"Not a witch! A switch!" Richie yelled, "look, switch this switch."

"This switch?" Shane asked.

Shane flipped the switch on the bottom and Richie turned off his flashlight because the lights were on again.

"Great, now we know who to send to do this job again if the lights go out," Amber said.

They headed back to the kitchen to raid the refrigerator anyway, but on the way, Richie's ankle twisted and he lost his balance and he fell through the back door. Amber and Shane followed after Richie, he'd fallen down the stairs on the back porch and was sprawled out on his back in the rain.

"Huh," Shane said, "Richie sure picks a funny time to play leapfrog…oh well…"

Richie opened his eyes and screamed, Shane jumped over him hunched on all fours and landed right in front of him.

"Shane, pick Richie up and bring him back in here," Amber said, "we got rules around here…no roughhousing in the storm."

"Right…" Shane got up and picked up Richie and slung him over his shoulder and carried him back into the kitchen and put him down.

"Boy you're sure handy to keep around," Richie said as he wrung out his shirt.

"My mommy always said I'd amount to something, she just never knew what," Richie said.

"Yeah, you're like something that no home should be without," Amber said, "if they ever make something out of this cloning thing, they should try it with you…"

After emptying part of the fridge, Richie, Shane and Amber settled down in the living room again with the coffee table full of chips, pretzels, beers, sandwiches and cold cuts.

Shane got his hand on the remote control and turned on the TV and turned it on to an old horror movie.

"This looks interesting," he said.

* * *

Amanda was on her side of the bed trying to sleep, but she found that impossible with Duncan tossing and turning and pounding his pillow right behind her.

"Keep it up, we'll be up all night," Amanda said, "I got more rest in a bed that was on fire."

"I can't sleep."

"That's apparent," Amanda replied.

"Amanda," Duncan said as he sat up, "I'm worried."

"About what?" Amanda asked.

"I'm not sure, I just feel like something horrible is about to happen," Duncan said.

"Oh Duncan, you worry too much, nothing's going to happen, so just relax and go back to sleep," Amanda said.

"I can't sleep," Duncan replied.

"Well take a pill, we have plenty of them," Amanda said.

"Pills don't work on me," Duncan said.

"Well then take an aphrodisiac, they seem to put you to sleep," Amanda replied.

There was a knock at their door and Methos stepped in, "what's all the noise about? You remind me of when I slept with a pig that went into labor."

"Duncan can't sleep," Amanda said.

"Have you tried a Spanish fly?" Methos asked.

Duncan pounded his pillow, "am I that predictable?"

"Yes," they both replied.

Duncan groaned and laid back on his pillow, "never mind, I think I'll just lay here all night and keep the both of you up with me."

"Methos, did we really get you up?" Amanda asked.

"No, I couldn't sleep," Methos said.

"Why not?" Duncan asked.

"Because I was afraid I'd have that dream again," Methos said.

"Methos, what are the odds of you having it again?" Amanda asked, "it's been two weeks."

"Exactly, what are the odds of having the same dream for two weeks? It's happened to me so far…I don't want to see it again," Methos said.

"Methos, you have to sleep, you're turning into a wreck around here," Amanda said.

"Thank you for pointing that out, I hadn't noticed," Methos said.

"Methos…" Amanda opened the drawer on her nightstand and took out a bottle of sleeping pills, "take some of these, they'll knock you out like a light…you'll sleep so soundly nothing will be able to disturb you…trust me, Duncan used to take these shortly after we got married…the house could've been burning down, he wouldn't turn over."

"I hope so, but I'm not holding my breath," Methos replied.

* * *

The power had gone out again, this time it didn't do any good to mess with the fuse box, so they stayed in the living room for a while with the flashlight on.

"What time is it?" Shane asked.

Amber looked at her watch, "about 1:30."

"We should probably turn in for the night," Richie said.

"I gotta agree," Amber replied, "we've been losing sleep as it is with Methos and his damn nightmares…if we don't get any sleep tonight, we won't be good for anything in the morning."

"What nightmare?" Shane asked.

"It's a long story," Richie replied, "it's better not to try and explain it."

"Although if he has it again tonight, you'll probably know before anyone else," Amber said.

Richie picked up the flashlight and the three of them headed upstairs, quiet as they could be, although it would do little good, seeing as how everyone would know when they came up anyway. They slipped into the bedroom and into Richie's bed, which wasn't easy. Shane proved to be longer than the bed and his feet hung out over the foot of the bed, also he was larger than a regular person may be, making the bed a bit crowded. Richie wound up on his side at the edge of the bed, with Amber on her side rolled up right against him.

Shane was already asleep, but Richie and Amber were glad morning was only a few hours away.


	4. Chapter 4

The sun was starting to set and Shane slipped off the dock and into the water, it was nice. Ordinarily the water was cold when people went swimming, usually because they came early in the morning, but Shane was here now because there was no one there as the sun was setting. He headed out further into the water and he found it was becoming deeper. Off in the distance, he heard someone calling him, he turned around and saw his mother coming his way.

"Hey Ma!" Shane called, "come on in! The water's great!"

She ran up to the dock and called out to Shane to get out of the water. Shane couldn't figure out what was wrong, but then he got his answer. The water was becoming deeper and he was being dragged down beneath the surface, no matter how hard he tried to stay above the water, it was useless. Something jerked him underneath and he found himself looking up at distorted images of the area above him, and his mother as she jumped in to rescue him. But it was hopeless, even if she could've gotten to him, he was too heavy for her to pull out, and he watched helplessly as his mother drowned, and he knew he was soon to follow.

Shane hit his head against something hard and assumed he'd reached the bottom of the river, but it was then that he realized two things, he was hot and he was dry. Shane opened his eyes and found himself on the floor beside the bed, tangled up in a bed sheet. Looking up he saw Richie and Amber were still asleep, he was glad he hadn't woken them up, but he didn't feel like going back to sleep with them. So he got himself loose from the sheet and got up and went out of the room.

* * *

Amanda saw the sun was shining and looked over at the clock, it was still early but she decided it was time to get up anyway. Looking over she saw Duncan was asleep on the other side of the bed, and she gave him a little nudge.

"What is it?" Duncan asked.

"Duncan, it's morning, it's time to get up," Amanda told him.

Duncan rubbed his eyes and got up, "is everything allright?"

"Everything's fine," Amanda said, "come on, let's see if the others are up yet."

Amanda slipped on her robe and Duncan slipped into some clothes and they headed out into the hall, they noticed two people were in Richie's room, and two were in Methos' room.

"You think Amber went in to sleep with him again?" Amanda asked.

"If so, that means Richie and Shane are in here," Duncan said as he turned the knob.

They walked in and were surprised to see Richie and Amber lying in bed together. They didn't wake up and Duncan and Amanda slipped out as quickly as they entered. Then they went over to Methos' bedroom and went in, and they were surprised at what they saw. By this time, Methos started to wake up, he felt around for his nightstand but couldn't find it. Then he lowered his arm to grip the side of the bed, he had to lower it more than he thought.

"MacLeod?" he drowsily asked.

"Yes?" Duncan asked, resisting a laugh.

"Who moved me six inches above my bed?" Methos asked.

Methos heard Duncan and Amanda laughing, and he woke up to see what they found so amusing, he looked down. Shane was laying on his stomach underneath him, bringing Methos up and down with every breath he took. Methos still wasn't completely awake and was shocked by the sight and he rolled off of Shane and fell onto the floor. The noise woke Shane up. He rolled onto his side and saw Methos on the floor and he smiled.

"Good morning, Methos, did you sleep well?" he asked.

"I guess I must've," Methos said, "nobody woke me up…Shane…" he said calmly, "can I ask you a question?"

"Sure," he replied.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY BED!" Methos asked.

"I had a nightmare last night," Shane said.

"So you slept with Methos?" Amanda asked.

"No…" Shane replied, "I woke up on the floor across the hall, and I couldn't sleep so I came out into the hall to walk around for a bit."

**Flashback**

As he was heading for the stairs, Shane heard some noise coming from Methos' room, it sounded like something was wrong with him, so he went in. It was too dark to really see anything, but Shane could tell Methos was thrashing around on the bed and moaning, as if someone were throwing him around. Shane remembered hearing something about him having nightmares lately, this must be what they meant. So Shane did the only thing that he could think of, he crawled onto the bed, lifted Methos up and laid him on top of his own body. He did what he could to calm Methos down, holding him carefully, stroking his hair and his back, at first Methos wouldn't stop moaning, but after a while he quieted down and seemed to relax.

**End flashback**

At that time, Richie and Amber came in to see what all the noise was about, Shane repeated everything to them and got them up to speed. Afterwards, Duncan and Amanda left the room with them, leaving Shane and Methos alone.

"Methos, you really can't remember last night?" Shane asked.

"No…and I want to thank you…"

"Thank me? For what?" Shane asked.

"Well…the majority of the time that I've been having this damn nightmare, I go to bed alone, and I wake up because someone's shaking me…a short time ago, after being woken up, Richie and Amber and I all wound up in the same bed for the night, and it wasn't as bad as before…this time I have no recollection of last night or the nightmare whatsoever…maybe it's because you were here…"

"Well…it wouldn't surprise me if it did…that's why I did it…I remember when I was younger, that used to happen to me all the time, and my mother would do what I did…for a while…"

"Huh?" Methos asked.

"Uh…when I was little, my mother was bigger so it was easy for her to hold me…then as I got bigger, my mother got smaller…so I was usually the one holding her…"

"Oh…"

"And I figured if I did that with you…maybe you'd calm down," Shane said.

"I see," Methos said.

* * *

Amanda turned on the light above the kitchen sink and pushed bread down in the toaster, "the electricity seems to be fine this morning."

"Are you sure it wasn't just the fuse box?" Duncan asked.

"Yes I'm sure," Richie replied, "because when I tried it again, nothing happened, it didn't matter which switch I flipped or what, nothing happened."

"Well everything seems to be working fine now," Amanda said, "so how was it after you came up?"

"You mean before Shane left?" Richie asked.

"Yes."

"Well it was hard getting the three of us all in the same bed," Amber said, "Shane's too tall to fit in it so his feet were sticking out over the edge, and the bed was too narrow for the three of us to fit in it comfortably…the next time we have him over, we're pushing our beds together."

"That's considering that there is a next time," Duncan said.

Amanda stamped on Duncan's foot again, this time he said nothing and looked the other way.

* * *

Over the next couple of weeks, Shane came to dinner every few days, always with another big bag of animals for the neighbor, and occasionally Amber went to visit him at the cemetery afterwards.

One night, a horrible thunderstorm had come up and they were unable to contact Shane to have him come over, so Amber decided to go to the cemetery to make sure he was allright. By the time she got there, the wind was horribly strong and the rain was beating down, she looked around, she knew he was there, but she couldn't find him. She felt something grab her from behind and she turned around and there he was.

"What're you doing here!" he asked.

"I came to find you!" she replied.

"Well I'm here!" Shane said.

"That's apparent!" Amber said, "what are you doing out in this weather?"

"I saw you were coming, what are you doing out in this weather!"

"I came to see if you were allright!"

"I am, but we won't be for long if we stay out here!" Shane said, "come on!"

Shane took her by the arm and led her over to the side of the cemetery's gate and helped her over it and took her over to what look like a storage shed and they went in. Shane closed the door behind them, inside it was dark but it was dry. The place was built of metal and seemed to be strong enough to last through the storm.

"The storm's not supposed to clear up until morning," Shane explained, "we'll be fine if we stay in here…"

Amber went over to one of the small windows and looked back towards the cemetery, "Shane…" she said, "there was a man out there watching us."

"Huh?" Shane asked.

"When we were coming this way, there was a man standing outside the entrance gates, and he was watching us," Amber said.

"It's probably the caretaker," Shane said, "he comes by during storms to make sure nothing's happened."

"I don't think so, he didn't look like the caretaker from how you described him," Amber said.

"Maybe it was someone passing by," Shane said.

"Shane, use your head for a minute, why would someone who's just passing through, stop right outside the gates to a cemetery in the middle of a severe thunderstorm just to look in at the place?" Amber asked.

"Was he Immortal?" Shane asked.

"I couldn't tell, he was too far off for me to know," Amber said.

"If he was, maybe he was looking for a safe place to stay during the night," Shane said.

"He's not there now," Amber noticed, "and he's not in the cemetery…and he's also not coming here."

"I don't know," Shane said, "maybe he went somewhere."

"Yeah, where? A midnight jog?" Amber asked.

"It doesn't matter, he's gone now," Shane said, "uh…"

"What?"

"Tonight may not be too comfortable, we'll have to sleep on the floor," Shane said.

"Please, even if I'd stayed at home I wouldn't be comfortable," Amber replied, "the floor will do just fine…"

Shane and Amber spread themselves out on the floor and got as comfortable as was possible and within time fell asleep.

* * *

Sometime in the night, Shane heard someone moaning, and he woke up and saw he was holding Amber, apparently too tight, a loud CRACK was heard from her body.

"Shane, I think you broke me," she moaned.

Shane put her down on the floor and let go of her, "I'm terribly sorry, Amber…"

"No problem, just give me some time to recover," Amber said as she rolled on her side.

"I'm sorry…I think I had another nightmare," Shane said.

"Oh? What about?"

"I don't remember…"

"Probably for the better, I wish I could forget half the nightmare I remember," Amber said, "goodnight, Shane."

"Goodnight."

* * *

The phone in Methos' bedroom rang, waking him up, he shot up in bed, turned on the light, picked up the phone and answered with a bitter "What!"

"Methos, good, you're up," Joe said.

Methos looked over at the clock, "of course," his voice leaked with cynicism, "I always get up at 1 in the morning, to do some pushups before I run laps around the swamp. Now what do you want?"

"I was wondering if you might have some information on a Watcher named Jason Kruger."

Methos scratched his head as he tried to recall, "doesn't ring a bell, should I?"

"He's Amber's Watcher, he came up missing a couple of weeks ago…we're checking with some other Watchers in the area, but no one seems to know where he could be."

"And I was next on your list," Methos assumed.

"You're the last one the list," Joe corrected him, "we can't find him."

"You mean he's not in Tampa," Methos said.

"He's not in Florida," Joe replied.

"Maybe he retired, or resigned, or maybe he just went on a permanent vacation," Methos said.

"That's not too likely," Joe told him.

"And why not?" Methos asked.

"He's only 47 years old," Joe said.

"That's impossible, two years ago when we saw him, he was an old goat, just like you," Methos said.

"That wasn't Jason Kruger, that was Mark Reid, he was found dead with his throat ripped open, and that's when Jason took over as her Watcher."

"When was that?" Methos asked.

"Several weeks ago," Joe said.

"And why didn't you tell me that before?" Methos asked.

"I thought you knew."

"Why would I? I haven't been to…wait a minute…wait a minute…can you describe what he looks like?"

"Not really, he looks a bit weird for explanation," Joe said.

"Fine, send me his picture and I'll let you know if I've seen him," Methos said.

"Okay…"

"Joe…"

"What?"

"Who in the bloody hell would rip open the throat of a 65-year-old man? For what reason? Anything could've happened to him, a stroke, a heart attack, cancer, Alzheimer's, his intestines could've exploded from eating bad food…why murder him? Why Amber's Watcher?"

"I don't know…"

* * *

Shane and Amber woke up and saw that it had stopped raining, furthermore, the sun was starting to come up. So they left the shed and when they got back to the cemetery, Shane went down to the elm tree and Amber got on her motorcycle and left, during it all, neither one noticed the man standing outside the cemetery gates.

He turned and walked away, as he headed down the road, his cell phone rang and he answered, "Ed White."

"Ed, I've been trying to get you for the past two days, what the hell are you doing?"

"Watching, it's my job, isn't it?" he asked.

"You're loony, what if they saw you?"

"So what if they did? It's not as if they'd know me, Norman."

"Well…that's not the only reason I'm calling…nothing's been found out about Jason Kruger's disappearance…we figure by now he has to be dead, and if he is, all eyes are pointing to his assignment."

"Well he did mention a while back that he thought she had killed her last Watcher…you don't suppose she'd actually try to kill him, do you?"

"Anything's possible with an Immortal."

"I know that's true," Ed replied.

"Are you sure you haven't seen him recently?"

"I would know if I had, Norman."

"Of course, just like looking in a mirror."

"Well if my reflection tells me how he's doing, I'll be sure and let you know," Ed said.

"Fine…and Ed…watch yourself out there, we don't know what or whom could be responsible for this mess."

* * *

"Where were you last night?" Duncan asked.

"With Shane," Amber replied.

"At the cemetery?" Duncan asked.

"No, in the tool shed behind the church," Amber explained.

"What?"

"It was weird, there was someone watching us from outside the cemetery last night," Amber said.

"Perhaps it was Jason Kruger," Methos thought.

"Who?" Richie asked.

"Amber's Watcher…Joe said he's been missing for a couple of weeks…or perhaps it's Edward White, Shane's Watcher," Methos said.

"What do they look like?" Amber asked.

"I don't know, I've never seen either of them, I've only heard of them," Methos said, "actually, I don't really know any Watcher who's seen the both of them…"

"That sounds a bit odd," Amber said.

"Not really, there's hundreds of Watchers, it's pretty hard to know all of them," Methos said.

"Yeah, but we're talking about two guys in the same area," Amber said, "I mean, wouldn't you call that strange?"

There was a knock at the front door, Methos went to answer it, and he wasn't pleased.

"Oh it's you…"

"You greet everyone like that, or only people you know?" Joe asked as he came in.

"What're you doing here?" Methos asked.

"I was in the neighborhood."

"You called me last night from Seacouver, what the hell are you talking about?" Methos asked.

"Okay, okay, so I came in person. I have to admit that I got a little worried and decided to see you for myself."

"Why?" Methos asked.

"Jason's been found," Joe said.

"That's good," Methos said.

Joe shook his head.

"What? You don't like him?" Methos asked.

Joe shook his head again, "it's not that."

"Don't tell me, he hates you…what'd you do? Did you sleep with his wife?"

Joe shook his head again.

"Come on, Joe, that's it, right?" Methos asked.

"No it's not, read my head," Joe said as he shook it again.

"Well then what is it?" Methos asked.

"He's dead you dope!" Joe told him.

"What?" Methos asked.

"The Watchers found his body today…he…he's been dead for some time now, we're not exactly sure how long," Joe said.

"Can't you get an autopsy?" Richie asked.

"We wouldn't need one, we know what killed him, his head was cut off," Joe said.

"What!" Duncan and Methos asked.

"That's nuts," Richie said.

"Unless he was Immortal," Amber said.

"Where was the body found?" Richie asked.

"In a shallow grave in a body bag," Joe explained, "some people had noticed the ground looked weird so they dug it up to see what was beneath it, and they found him."

"So how'd you find him?" Richie asked.

"They were Watchers."

"For someone to kill him, or even want to in the first place, they must've known he was Immortal," Amber said, "where's the body currently?"

"Why? You want to see it?" Joe asked, sounding like he couldn't believe it.

"No Joe, she's going to hold a séance and make it levitate, of course we want to see it," Richie said.

"It's going to be difficult, the Watchers have him currently…"

"What for?" Amber asked.

"To make sure nothing happens to the body before burial," Joe said.

"Maybe you and Methos could arrange something," Amber said, "find a way to convince them you need to move the body, then you move it where they won't find it for a while, and we'll come see it."

"I don't get why you want to see his body, but allright," Joe said.

"One other thing," Richie said, "do you have a picture of what he looked like before he went missing?"

Joe reached into his shirt pocket and took out a photograph and handed it to Richie. He and Amber got a good look at the man in the picture, and they both turned pale.

"What's the matter?" Duncan asked.

"Mac…" Richie said, "it's Kronos."

"What?" Duncan asked, "it can't be."

"No? Well then Kronos is doing a great job at the impossible," Amber said.

Duncan took the picture from them and he looked like he was going to collapse, and Methos it would seem, didn't need to see the picture, he knew they were telling the truth.

"Well," Richie said, "if it's any consolation, at least he's dead now."

"Really?" Amber asked, "if anything, I say it's all the more reason to see the body, to make sure if it his him, that he is dead."

"Uh Methos, are you up to this?" Joe asked.

"No, but I'll do it," he replied, "come on."

* * *

"It's impossible for Kronos to be alive again, how could he be?" Richie asked.

"I don't know," Duncan replied, "I just don't know."

"It's probably not even him," Amber said, "maybe we were wrong."

"You saw the picture, we all did, it's him," Richie said.

"How would you know?" Amber asked, "you never met him."

"No, but Mac has, so has Methos, they would know him."

"You can't know that it's him, that picture was mainly a headshot, we'll have to see the rest of him to be sure," Amber said.

"And we will, as soon as they get the body," Duncan said.

"I hope they hurry, this is enough to drive someone crazy," Amber said.

"Can you even imagine? Kronos a Watcher," Richie said.

"I know, the whole idea is basically mind blowing," Amber replied, "and if he played his cards right, as a Watcher he could've found out where Mac is, found out about us…maybe even found out about Methos…"

"Oh God, I hope he's dead," Duncan said.

Joe had called Duncan telling him where they could come to see the body, so they went. The building had been abandoned for several years, if the conditions to it got any worse it would probably become condemned. They slipped in and went over to where they'd laid the body bag out on a table. Duncan opened it up and the first thing he saw was the decayed bloody stump that had been the neck.

"Where…where's the head?"

"Check down by the abdomen," Methos said.

Duncan lowered the zipper on the decayed body, Richie turned around momentarily, fighting the temptation to vomit. Duncan a bit reluctantly reached into the bag and pulled out what was left of the head.

"Is it him?" Joe asked.

"It's too rotted to identify," Duncan said, "but it has to be him, there can be no other explanation."

Duncan put the head down and stepped away, while he and Joe and Methos talked amongst themselves, Amber went over to the body, she pulled the zipper completely down. The body was wearing black jeans, black boots, and a large black jacket that was zipped up. Amber grabbed the zipper on the jacket and pulled it down and pulled the jacket open.

"Amber, what're you doing?" Richie asked.

The men looked at her as she continued doing what she was, after a minute, she stopped and observed something about the body, "well I'll be…"

"What is it?" Duncan asked.

"It's not Kronos," Amber said, "Richie, look at this, this guy has a stab wound in him that goes in at least 3 inches."

"So?" Richie asked.

"So…" Amber repeated, "why would you stab a guy if you already decapitated him? Furthermore, you know as well as I do that if it had happened before this guy was decapitated, then it would've healed…meaning only one thing, he's not Immortal."

"Then it's not Kronos," Joe said.

"Thank God," Methos said.

"No," Amber said as she zipped up the bag, "he just looks a hell of a lot like him…well, you can take him back and have him buried now."

"Right…I'm sorry about all the trouble, Mac," Joe said.

"It's allright, Joe, I'm just glad that it wasn't Kronos," Duncan said.

"Methos, can you give me a hand here?" Joe asked.

Methos applauded a few times, but then he helped Joe move the body bag back out to the car.

* * *

"How did it go?" Amanda asked.

"They didn't tell you?" Methos asked.

"They didn't say anything, they just went upstairs to their room," Amanda replied.

"Well it's not Kronos, he wasn't even Immortal," Duncan said.

"Well that's great, isn't it?" Amanda asked.

"Yeah, but it still leaves a lot to wonder," Duncan replied as he and Methos sat down on the couch.

"Such as?"

"For one thing, why should someone want to kill Amber's new Watcher just a few months after her last one has been murdered?" Duncan asked. "Another thing, you'd think that since someone went through the trouble of cutting off his head, that the intention was to make us think it was an Immortal…but clearly the body wasn't supposed to be found, so why bother?"

"I don't know what to tell you two," Amanda said, "it seems that someone's going through a lot of trouble for this whole thing…Methos, wasn't there another Watcher who saw Jason around the time of his disappearance?"

"Yeah, Edward White…why?"

"Maybe he did it," Amanda said.

"For what reason?" Duncan asked.

"I don't know what reason, I don't understand all this stuff that the Watchers do, but if he did…he must've had a reason," Amanda said.

"We can't even know that he did it," Duncan said, "Methos never even met the guy."

"Well maybe you should," Amanda said.

"Joe told me earlier that some of the Watchers are starting to suspect Amber of murdering him," Methos said.

"That's nuts, why would she do that? She never even met the guy," Amanda said.

"I don't know, but Joe heard that Edward White told Norman Geiss that Jason Kruger had said that she had a horrible temper, and he thought she had killed her last Watcher as well," Methos said.

"The whole thing doesn't make any sense," Amanda said.

"Well one thing does, something weird is going on," Duncan said, "but it's not with us, it's with the Watchers."


	5. Chapter 5

Amber looked out the window and saw the sky getting dark.

"I hope Shane's allright," Amber said, "holy ground will only protect him from so many people."

"I'm sure he'll be allright, you saw what he did on the 4th of July, that light show was even better than the fireworks," Richie said.

"Yeah, but you weren't at the cemetery last night, you didn't see that guy who was watching us," Amber said.

"Technically you didn't either," Richie said, "you have no idea what the guy looks like, or even if it's a guy."

"No, but I know that someone was there last night in the middle of a severe thunderstorm, just standing outside the cemetery, watching us head to the tool shed behind the church," Amber replied.

"Maybe you should have him come over if you're so worried about him," Richie said.

"Maybe…let's face it, between all of us we've buried a lot of friends, I don't want the same to happen with him," Amber said.

Amber went to the phone and dialed the number of the cemetery, an unfamiliar voice answered, "hello?"

"Give me Shane Pelka," she said.

The caretaker to the cemetery put his hand over the receiver and called out to the cemetery, "CALL FOR SHANE PELKA!"

By that time, Shane had heard the noise and came up, wondering what was going on.

The caretaker called "CALL FOR" when Shane told him he was there.

"Phone, sir," the caretaker handed Shane the phone, after a minute, he looked back at Shane, and took off running.

"Hello?" Shane said.

"Shane, are you allright?" Amber asked.

"Hold on," Shane held the receiver away for a minute and looked himself over briefly, "yes, I think I am."

"Well why don't you come over here tonight?" Amber asked.

"Ehhhhh…I don't know," Shane replied, "you see I promised Rachel I'd serenade her by the light of the moon tonight."

Amber laughed, "there's not going to be light of the moon, there's no moon tonight."

"Oh…well then I guess I could come over," Shane said, "what's the occasion?"

"No occasion," Amber told him, "some weird stuff's been going on lately and I'd feel a lot better if you were here tonight."

"Okay, I'll come over…"

"Good," Amber hung up the phone, "he'll be over soon."

"Okay, I'll go warn Mac," Richie said.

"And I'm going to lay down until he gets here," Amber kicked off her boots and rested against the pillows on her bed.

Richie left the room and headed downstairs, Amber remained motionless and looked up at the ceiling, "good Lord, what a day…if Kronos ever did come back to life…"

She didn't know how to finish that thought; she'd only heard of the Horsemen, of Kronos, she had no idea how horrible it could actually be if he were to return from the dead.

Amber lightly laughed as she rolled over, "although if he did, Shane would probably rip his head off and use it as a bowling ball."

* * *

Amanda opened the door and saw Shane was carrying nothing with him this time.

"Hello Shane, come on in," she said.

"Okay…"

"I guess Amber forgot to tell you we'd be eating soon," Amanda said.

Shane looked down and realized he didn't have a bag with him, "yeah I guess she did."

"Oh…it's just as well I suppose, Miss Widen is starting to get more pets than she knows what to do with," Amanda said.

"Although she certainly knew enough to get them fixed," Duncan smirked.

"So what's for dinner?" Shane asked.

"Lasagna."

"Oh…is Amber around?"

"She's upstairs," Methos said.

Shane turned and went up the stairs and over to Amber's room. She got off the bed and went over to him.

"Are you allright?" she asked.

"Yes," he answered.

"Thank God," Amber said as she wrapped her arms around Shane, of course at his height, she was only grabbing his waist.

"What's wrong?" Shane asked.

"Shane, you wouldn't believe what's been going on around here," Amber said as she let go of him, "…my Watcher is dead and the Watchers think I did it."

"What?"

"That's not all…one of the last people to see him alive was your Watcher, Edward White…he told the Watchers that Jason Kruger…my Watcher, was worried I might do something because he had reason to believe that I also killed my last Watcher, who died a few months ago…now, your Watcher, Edward White, has gone missing too…no one knows where he is…we don't know if he's going to die next, or if he might have had something to do with Jason's death…"

During this, Amber had started pacing back and forth in the room, Shane put a stop to it by grabbing her by the shoulders and lifting her off the ground.

"Calm down," he said, "now, start from the beginning and tell me what's going on."

"Allright," Amber said as Shane put her down, "let's see…where to begin…okay, do you remember those people I told you about, the Watchers?"

Shane nodded.

"Well you have a new Watcher named Edward White because the last one died, supposedly of a heart attack…and he met the man who replaced my Watcher, who had been found with his throat ripped open. Anyway, two weeks ago, your Watcher, Edward White, was one of the last people to see my Watcher, Jason Kruger alive…after that, Jason went missing and could not be found for two weeks. The Watchers have their suspicions about who could be responsible for such a thing…most fingers point to me because supposedly Jason had told Edward White that he was worried something might happen considering I have a bad temper…And it doesn't help my credibility much that they think I'm the one who killed my last Watcher as well…well anyway, two weeks had gone by and they finally found Jason…dead and decayed, his head had been cut off…"

Shane gasped, "how revolting."

"And what's worse, Joe showed us a picture of him before he died, and we could've sworn he was an Immortal that Duncan killed back in 1996."

"What did they do?" Shane asked.

"After they killed Jason, they stuffed him and his head in a body bag, and put him in a shallow grave somewhere in the ground, some Watchers found it, dug it up, and that's how Joe found out he was killed," Amber said.

"And now that my Watcher's gone missing, you think something might happen to me?" Shane asked.

"I don't know and I don't want to find out," Amber said, "after what happened today I'm not in the mood for anymore surprises and if something happened to you I don't think I could stand it."

"Don't worry, nothing's going to happen to me," Shane said, "I'll be fine and you know it."

* * *

Come morning, Amber and Richie had woken up and found Shane was gone. The storm had ended sometime during the night and they figured he'd gone back to the cemetery. After breakfast, Amber left for church, she wanted to get out of the house and it was right by the cemetery so she'd see Shane afterwards anyway. While Amanda was clearing the table, the phone rang and Duncan went into the next room to answer it.

"So how did it go, last night?" Amanda asked.

"What do you mean?" Richie asked.

"I mean Shane didn't go into Methos' bedroom last night, so he mustn't have had a nightmare, right?" Amanda asked.

"I suppose that's true…I don't really know, all I remember was after we pushed her bed and mine together and we all got in, we all fell asleep and when we woke up today, it was just the two of us."

"I'm surprised none of us knew Shane left," Amanda said.

"Well he's weird like that," Richie said.

Duncan had hung up the phone and returned to the kitchen, looking like someone had died.

"Duncan, what's the matter?" Amanda asked.

Duncan didn't seem to hear her, he staggered over to the table and just said, "…horrible."

"What is it, Mac?" Richie asked.

"That was Joe," Duncan said.

"Did they find Shane's Watcher?" Amanda asked.

"Not exactly…today they found washed up on the shore his clothes and a few personal belongings, and a note confessing to killing Jason Kruger," Duncan said.

"And they really believe he killed himself over that?" Methos asked as he entered the kitchen.

"They're not sure yet," Duncan said.

Methos laughed sarcastically as he made his way over to the fridge to get a beer.

"Methos, you find this funny?" Amanda asked.

"You mean the fact that you believe that…yes," Methos said, "I find it hysterical."

"Methos, how can you laugh at something like that?" Amanda asked.

"Let's take a look at the facts, shall we?" Methos asked as he sat down at the table, "if Edward White did in fact kill himself, he wouldn't have thrown his clothes in first and then jumped in the ocean naked…meaning either he faked his own death, or someone killed HIM."

"Who would kill him?" Duncan asked.

"I'm not sure, but I do know this much, if those clothes are in fact his, they'll have his DNA on them, and if he was murdered, they'll have someone else's on them as well," Methos said.

"You think someone did kill him?" Richie asked.

"That, we'll have to wait to find out," Methos replied.

* * *

Amber had spent most of the morning in the church trying to stay awake, but with little luck. Through most of the service she nodded off and slumped to one side, then she woke up and did the same thing again. By the time church was over, she was glad to get up and leave…it was at that time that she realized 3 other Immortals had been in the church. Clearly she'd missed them coming in, but she didn't miss them as they got up and went past her to leave.

She got a good look at each one of them, though trying to seem she was paying no attention to them. A few minutes after they left, Amber got up, left the church, and first headed to the cemetery. She was relieved to find that Shane wasn't there, she went down to Rachel's grave to see if he'd left a note saying where he was going. Sure enough, there was a sign staked to the ground that said he'd gone to work and would be back later in the afternoon. Amber was glad for that, Shane's work was done in public, and even the Horsemen had to know better than to fight with a crowd. By the time Shane would get through, he'd come right back to the cemetery, and providing he didn't leave, he should be safe there.

Amber decided for the moment, Shane was in no immediate danger, so she got on her motorcycle and sped back to the house to warn Methos. She parked in the driveway and ran up to the front door and bashed it open as she ran through, and she ran into Methos and they both fell on the floor.

"Amber, what in the bloody hell is the matter with you?" Methos asked.

"Methos, there's trouble," Amber said as they got up.

"You're telling me, the Watchers think Shane's Watcher's been murdered now…where is Shane?"

"He's at work, Methos…that's not important right now," Amber said.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"The Horsemen are alive!" she told him.

Methos looked at Amber with the coldest stare she had even seen, he looked like he didn't believe her, he looked like he was angry at her.

"This is no time for one of your sick jokes, Amber," he hissed.

"Methos, I'm telling you the truth, I saw them when I was leaving the church today," Amber said.

"Amber, enough!" Methos said.

Amber grabbed Methos by the shirt so he couldn't walk away, "Methos, please, you have to listen to me, I'm telling the truth…I didn't believe it when I first saw them, but it's true, they're back, they're alive…"

"That's impossible, they're dead and you know it just as well as I do," Methos said as he pushed her back and turned to walk away.

"One of them has a scar that goes down his right eye," Amber said, that made Methos stop, "he had short dark hair, and he wears this weird black jacket…another one is just under six feet tall and he's skinny, kinda resembles a drowned rat, and he has a tattoo of a dragon on the side of his head, and the third one has a head that loosely resembles a Casaba melon and has about the IQ of a kiwi fruit. Does that about describe your brothers?"

Methos turned around and stared at her again, what was in his eyes this time, she couldn't tell.

"You can't be serious," Methos said.

"But I am," Amber said, "Methos, please believe me, you could be in danger!"

Methos didn't seem to be listening, and he slapped her, it was harder than she'd ever been slapped in her life and she fell to the floor. He turned and walked away telling her it was impossible, a few seconds later, he collapsed to the floor. Amber got up and ran over to him to help him up, when she got to him, she realized he was crying.

"Oh God!" he moaned, "I was afraid this would happen…"

"You think that's what this is?" Amber asked, "your nightmare come to life? You think he's after Richie?"

"I don't know," Methos cried, "I hope not…this can't be happening! How can he be alive again!"

"I wish I knew," Amber said as she held him close, "Methos, I'm sorry…"

Duncan had heard Methos and came running in and found both of them on the floor, "Methos, are you allright? What's going on?"

"No I'm not allright," he replied.

"What happened?" Duncan asked.

"Tell him!" Methos gasped, "tell him what you told me!"

Duncan helped Methos up and took him into the living room with Amber following behind, Duncan sat Methos down on the couch and seated himself beside him as Methos became quiet

"Amber, what the hell is going on here?" he asked, "what happened to Methos?"

"Mac…I found out something when I was leaving church today…and you're not going to believe it…Methos didn't believe it either, and look at what happened to him," Amber said.

"What was it?" he asked.

"Well…before I tell you, I want you to promise that you're not going to explode like you usually do when bad news arises," Amber said, "Methos turned into a burst dam, you're going to be an erupting volcano."

"Amber, just tell me what is it," Duncan said.

"Dammit, Mac…promise…"

"Allright, allright, I promise, now what is it?" Duncan asked.

"Kronos is alive, and so are Silas and Caspian," Amber said.

"WHAT!" Duncan exclaimed as he shot up off the couch.

"You promised," Amber said.

"That was before I knew!" he replied, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN KRONO IS ALIVE?"

"I'm just telling you what I saw, the three of them were there in the church, they left before I did, and I don't think they paid much attention to me anyway…"

"Are you sure it's them?" Duncan asked.

"Dammit, Mac, yes I'm sure, what do you want? Photographs? I'm telling you I'd know those three sons of bitches anywhere," Amber said.

"I don't believe this! How can this be possible?" Duncan asked.

"I don't know..." Amber replied, "Methos, do you know where they were buried?"

"Yes," he answered, "what do you want me to do?"

"Fine out what's happened to their graves…if they've been dug up, if replacements have been put in the coffins, if anything's happened to them, that should prove thatI didn't make thisup," Amber said.

Amber hit Duncan from behind, "I don't care how sick you think I am, I wouldn't do something like this as a joke."

Amanda and Richie came down the front stairs and came into the living room, wondering what all the noise was about.

* * *

"Where do you think they could be?" Richie asked, "they have to be hiding out somewhere."

"They must be waiting for something," Duncan said, "otherwise they would've come by now."

"Maybe they can't find us," Richie thought.

"Well trust me, if they're around, it won't take long for them to find us, it's never smart to underestimate Kronos."

"If he's so smart, why's he want Methos?" Amanda asked.

"What?" Duncan asked.

"When the Horsemen were together, Methos planned everything, if Kronos were as smart as you're insinuating, he wouldn't need Methos," Amanda said.

"We can't know that for sure," Duncan said, "where is Methos?"

"In bed," Richie said.

"And where's Amber?" Amanda asked.

"With him," Richie replied.

"What?" Duncan asked.

"She's trying to calm him down, the guy can't relax, you get him to lay down in bed, he pops up like a piece of toast," Richie said.

"I can understand that…he had good reason to be worried," Duncan said.

"Don't forget, so do you," Amanda said, "yeah Methos turned against him, but you're the one who killed him."

"Lot of good that did," he said.

"Well you must've killed him, otherwise he would've come for you before you left the submarine base," Richie said.

"Then how is he alive now?" Duncan asked.

"I don't know," Richie said.

* * *

Methos had been in bed but still he wasn't asleep, Amber had tried for an hour to get him to relax, he'd just stopped crying again, that had taken up most of the hour. Now he seemed half asleep, but he was still asking Amber questions.

"If he kills me, you'll see that Richie will be allright, won't you?" he asked.

"Of course," Amber replied as she brought the sheet up on him, "and if Richie dies?"

"Then MacLeod will kill Kronos before he dies himself," Methos said.

"He can't die," Amber said.

"No, but he won't do anything to keep himself alive…the first time, when he thought he'd killed Richie, he asked me to take his head…when I refused he went away and we didn't see him for a year…if Kronos kills him, MacLeod will kill Kronos to avenge his death, but after that, he won't do anything to stay alive…if he were to get challenged, he'd offer his head."

"You really think he'd do that?" Amber asked.

"I'm not sure he'd survive fighting with Kronos again…this has never happened before," Methos said, "an Immortal returning from the dead…and you can be sure Kronos has had time to improve his sword work."

"Not to worry, if Kronos comes around here looking for you or Mac, or even Richie…they won't last for long."

"How can you say that?" Methos asked.

"You poisoned him once and that's how you got away from him," Amber said, "we could pump these guys full of lead, then take their heads while they're down."

"Amber…you can't do that," Methos said.

"Why not? There's nothing in the rules against it…there's no Immortals shall fight on holy ground, Immortals fight with no intervention from mortal or Immortal alike…Immortals can't fight in front of mortals…and in the end, there can be only one…those are the rules…nowhere in there does it say anything about killing an Immortal while he's down…or three of them for that matter…"

"Amber…" Methos said.

"No...you'll see, if they come around, I'll blow them full of holes…then, you can take Silas, Richie can take Caspian, and Mac can kill Kronos, again…"

Methos groaned as he turned on his side, away from her.

"Now what's the matter?" she asked.

"Nothing," he said.

Amber slapped Methos' butt through the sheets, "that's a lie and you know it…Methos, in the last nine hours, I've seen about every side of you there is to see…now what's wrong?" she asked.

"Honestly?"

"Yes."

"I'm worried."

"That's to be expected, Methos, I'd be worried if you weren't worried," Amber said.

"I'm scared to death is what I really am…"

"I'd say that's to be expected too, this is the guy who haunted you for 2,000 years and he wasn't even around…"

"You don't understand, he's a part of me," Methos said.

"Which part?" Amber asked as she briefly looked him over.

"No, the rage in him, the thirst for blood, the desire to kill…that's what's in him, and it's also in me…"

"Maybe he used to be a part of you…but he's not anymore," Amber said.

"Yes he is," Methos said as he shot up in bed, "he's inside of me…his rage, his anger, you don't get it, do you?"

"No…I'll admit there have been times where I've noticed you with this 'rage', but it never lasts, you don't have the ice that's his blood running through your veins, you're not some merciless killer…you're not Death on a horse anymore, Methos…"

"That doesn't mean I won't kill again."

"Is that what you're worried about?" Amber asked.

"Part of it."

"What's the rest?" Amber asked.

"I'm afraid of dying…just because Kronos wants the 4 Horsemen back together, it doesn't mean he won't kill me for betraying him."

"So you're worried it'll be an ultimatum of kill or be killed?" Amber asked.

"Pretty much…"

"You really are scared, aren't you?"

"More than I thought possible," Methos answered.

"Don't worry," Amber said, "everything will be allright…"

"Oh really? How can you be so sure of that?" Methos asked.

"Because if we have to, we're going to forget the rules and do what we have to do to get rid of them," she told him, "either way, Kronos isn't going to get you."

"I wish I could believe that," Methos said.

There was a light knock at the door.

"Who is it?" Methos asked.

"I hope it's death," Amber said.

The door opened and Richie came in, "is everything allright?"

"Everything's fine, now let me rot in peace and go away," Methos said.

Methos turned on his stomach and buried his head under a pillow.

"How's it going?" Richie asked Amber.

"I'm trying to get the ancient optimist to go to sleep, but no luck, he's scared to death Kronos is going to find him," Amber said.

Richie went over to the bed and laid down beside Methos on his stomach with his arms crossed.

"Hey Methos."

"What?" Methos asked.

"You don't have anything to worry about, there's four of us and only three of them," Richie said, "one of us has to get lucky."

"That's right, one way or another, we're not going to let them get to you," Amber said.

No one said anything for a minute, then Amber thought of something, "Methos…"

"What?" Methos asked as he brought his head out from under the pillows.

"I've been wondering about something recently."

"Oh?"

"Yeah…Cassandra once told Mac that…let's see…how did that hag put it? Kill Kronos and you've cut out the heart, kill you and take the head…"

"Yeah, so what?" Methos asked.

"Well I've been thinking, if Kronos is the heart and you're the brain, what would that make Silas and Caspian? The two stinking armpits?"

The thought made Richie and Amber laugh, but Methos didn't see the humor in it.

"Amber, it's not funny…"

"The hell it's not…" she replied over her laughing, "Kronos was your leader, but now that you're gone he's got Heckle and Jeckle as his left and right hands…it's a wonder he hasn't gotten killed yet…who knows? They may be the end of him yet."

"I wish I could believe that," Methos said.

Richie and Amber went out into the hall to discuss something among themselves for a minute.

"I'm not too sure he's going to appreciate the extra company," Richie said.

"Well I'm not leaving him alone, not as he is…you can do what you want, but I'm staying here," Amber told him.

"Fine, then we're both staying here…let's face it, you may have known him longer, but I'm his family," Richie said.

"And to figure that out, it required going back over 3,000 years in time," Amber said, "but…I suppose it's better to be related to him than to have no family at all…yeck."

"What?" Richie asked.

"I just had a thought, remember what Methos said about he and Kronos being brothers in everything except birth?"

"So?"

"So, if because of whatever reason, they still are brothers, that would technically make Kronos your cousin as well," Amber said.

"Great, now I'm going to have nightmares for a week," Richie replied.

"Shut up," Amber punched Richie in the shoulder, "come on…we'll do it like last time, you on one side of him, me on the next, and we pin him down for the night."

"Works for me," Richie said.

They went back in the bedroom and saw Methos had already fallen asleep, nevertheless, they slipped into bed on either side of him, and decided to make sure he wouldn't be going anywhere for the night.

"Goodnight, Amber," Richie whispered.

Amber briefly cleanedher sword and then slipped it under the bed, "goodnight, Richie."


	6. Chapter 6

Author's note:Thanks toSouthernchickie for her help with this chapter.

Methos awoke feeling relieved, although for what he didn't immediately know. Then when he saw Richie and Amber sleeping in the bed with him, everything came back, Kronos, the Horsemen, the same fear that had followed him for thousands of years was gnawing at him again.

Richie was the first of the two to wake up, he rolled onto his side and stretched and yawned and let his neck creak.

"Morning, Methos, sleep well?"

"I suppose so…what time is it?"

That was when Amber woke up, she looked at her watch, "6:20…which reminds me, I've got to get out of here." With that, she slipped out from her side of the bed and got up.

"What?" Methos asked.

"I want to get to Shane before he leaves for work today, I'm going to tell him about the Horsemen and to look out for them if they come around," Amber said.

"Good idea," Methos replied.

Amber turned to walk out the door when she realized she'd forgotten something, she turned and went back to the bed and pulled her sword out from underneath it, and she walked out of the room.

"So Methos, do you remember anything from last night?" Richie asked.

"Unfortunately yes," Methos answered.

"And?"

"And I think it's a mistake…"

"What's a mistake?" Richie asked.

"This is my problem, Richie…my battle with Kronos, you have no reason to involve yourself in this."

"But Methos…"

"Richie, this has been my nightmare for weeks now, I don't want it becoming reality…I don't want Kronos to find you, if he does, he'll surely kill you, just to torture us…Richie…I can't let that happen…don't you see if you died, Duncan would want to as well? He wouldn't think he had any reason to go on…he'd offer his head to someone…anyone, just so the suffering would stop…if you value your life, Richie, you'll stay out of this," Methos told him.

"What good would it do to let you go out there and get killed?" Richie asked.

"Because it wouldn't be you," Methos told him, "that's one of my main concerns right now, keeping you alive…"

"Well I don't know what to tell you," Richie said, "except our main concern right now is keeping YOU alive."

* * *

"Who was he?" Shane asked.

"His name was Kronos…he's…well he was several thousand years old…not quite as old as Methos though…none of them were."

"Who?"

"Well, over 2,000 years ago, Methos and these other three Immortals, Kronos, Silas and Caspian rode on horseback and spread terror over two continents. Raping, killing and pillaging, they rode into villages that were filled with life, and when they left, entire populations had been murdered mercilessly…"

"Methos?" Shane asked, "he did that?"

"Yes…it was important to Kronos that the 4 Horsemen stay together…but if the truth be known, Methos was most important to him…Methos was the brains of the operation…he would plan what they would do next, how they would do it…that's something that Kronos relied on heavily it would seem…you see, the way I see it is that of the four of them, Kronos was the leader, Methos was the brains, Silas was the intimidation and Caspian was sheer terror…of course I wouldn't know personally…but after listening to the horror stories of the four of them sharing a bed for hundreds of years, I wouldn't imagine it was pleasant being with any of them…"

"And wasthat him?" Shane asked, "the Watcher they found?"

"No…he was just some poor fool who had the misfortune of being born with Kronos' looks...he wasn't even Immortal"

"But how can you be sure?" Shane asked.

"Joe and Methos swiped the body from the Watchers and took it somewhere where all of us could see it…after opening his jacket, a large stab wound became very obvious…anyone with any knowledge of Immortals would know that a wound like that would heal itself."

"How can you be sure that his head wasn't cut off beforethe stab woundhad a chance to heal?" Shane asked.

"Because, judging by the size, length, and internal work of the wound, you would know that it took more than two seconds to perform…from that wound alone, Jason probably died instantly, then his head was cut off…"

"Why would someone do that?" Shane asked.

"Well the way I see it is someone who knows about Immortals must've known that Jason resembled Kronos, killed him and cut off his head to give anyone who found the body the illusion that it was Kronos back from the dead…but someone had found him before Duncan or Methos and killed him…"

"Who would do that?" Shane asked.

"Either someone who knows something about Kronos that we don't…or someone who's just trying to make Mac think he's going crazy again…it's happened before, first his own friend Garrick, then a demon who made him think he killed Richie…someone has to know what Duncan thought of Kronos…how much he hated him, how much he wanted to see him die…I think someone's trying to make Mac think that Kronos is back…to make him crazy…maybe make him kill one of us…because whoever it is, they didn't go through too much trouble in hiding the body."

"You really think so?" Shane asked, "I mean, you think that's all it is?"

"I did, until yesterday," Amber said.

"What happened?"

"I ran into the real Kronos," she explained.

"What?"

"Yesterday when I was leaving the church, I saw Kronos, and the other two Horsemen, Silas and Caspian were with him…I got here after they had gone, fortunately you were already at work at the time, otherwise they may have come for you too…"

"So now what do you think?" Shane asked.

"I think Kronos is trying to screw with Duncan's mind…I think he wants Mac to believe that he came back to life, got into the Watchers, then got killed…then when he really comes for him, Mac will think he's gone fruity…he'll think Kronos should already be dead…then Kronos goes in for the kill…and after that…he'll no doubt come for Methos…maybe even Richie…"

"Why Richie?" Shane asked.

"You remember that nightmare Methos has been having for weeks?" Amber asked.

"Yes…"

"That's it…Kronos comes back to life, kills Richie, and forces Methos to rejoin the Horsemen…last night he was telling me that he thinks it might happen."

"Really?" Shane asked.

"Yes…I don't understand it, Shane…for one thing the Horsemen were dead, and once Immortals lose their heads, they're not supposed to come back…another thing, if they came back recently, why now? Why not immediately after they'd been killed? Or if they came back after the fight, why'd they wait so long before finding them? And if they know that Mac and Methos are here, why haven't they attacked yet? What are they waiting for? I don't get any of it."

"Me either," Shane replied, "how will I know them if I run into them?"

"Trust me Shane, you'll know them if you see them…there's no mistaking them…Kronos is some power-hungry son of a bitch who wants to rule the world…Silas is a complete and total idiot, Caspian is a psychopath."

"Really?" Shane asked.

"Yes, Methos told me he used to go to bed with chickens," Amber told him.

"Oh…"

"I better get going," Amber said as she got up, "I'll see ya later, Shane, watch yourself."

"I will," Shane replied.

* * *

"This can't be happening," Duncan said.

"I wish it weren't, but it is," Methos said.

"But it just can't be," Duncan replied.

"What is it?" Amanda asked.

"The DNA on Edward White's clothes matched up, just not where we expected it to," Methos said.

"What do you mean?" Amanda asked.

"Well…the DNA on the clothes Jason Kruger were found in, didn't completely match with his DNA…so then…the DNA was compared with the body and Edward White's clothes…turns out that they're a match…"

"So what does this mean?" Amanda asked.

"It means that Jason Kruger, and Edward White were two completely different people who happened to look exactly alike…that's why no one ever noticed the difference until now," Duncan said, "Jason Kruger killed Edward White, put his clothes on Edward so when he was found, which was what Jason was counting on, people would think someone killed Jason while Edward was still alive…"

"I'm still not seeing how this all goes together," Amanda said.

"Jason Kruger was supposedly born in Miami, Florida in 1954…there's no such record, no one by that name in that time or place…it was all made up to cover his true identity…"

"And that was Kronos," Amanda realized.

"That's right, we checked with the caretaker of the cemetery he and the other Horsemen were buried in," Duncan said, "their graves were found dug up and their coffins were completely destroyed."

"It does make a bit of sense about Kronos as Jason Kruger, he figured the Watchers might catch on that he was Immortal, so he killed Edward, then he cut off his head so the Watchers' suspicions would be proven true…and with him dead they wouldn't consider having any reason to worry about an Immortal in the Watchers…and then they'd blame Amber…"

"While Edward White was still alive and stuck with his assignment, being Shane," Duncan said.

"But why him?" Amanda asked.

"Going through Edward White's clothes, the Watchers found a DNA test revealing that 'Jason Kruger' was Shane's father…he had drifted through Florida several years ago, met Shane's mother, and after sleeping with her, he left…"

"That was his alias at the time also," Amber said as she came in, "and since there's no such person, no records were kept, and that's why Shane could never find out who his father was."

"But Amber, if that were true, wouldn't Shane have mentioned that being his father's name when you told him it was the name of your Watcher?" Amanda asked.

"He probably thought it was too much to hope for…in any case, with him dead, what difference would it have made?" she asked, "so now Kronos is Shane's father…hell's going to freeze over, or the roof's going to fall in…"

"Amber, this is no time for jokes," Duncan said.

"Well it's pretty hard to be serious about all this, Kronos, the end of time, has a son, someone who looks like the Kurgan, but acts like Baby Huey…first of all we all know that it is impossible for an Immortal to have children…we're all barren…we always have been…hey, haven't we?" Amber asked.

"I don't know," Duncan said, "I thought so…but then again, Kronos is older than a lot of us."

"So what?" Methos asked.

"Maybe things changed for Immortals…maybe they used to be able to have kids…or maybe you have to get to a certain age before you can…I don't know, but there has to be an explanation for Kronos being Shane's father…oh my God…"

"What?" Duncan asked.

"Kronos bumped off Shane's Watcher to replace him…meaning that over the last two weeks, he's been there, watching Shane, listening to everything that he's said, and everything that I've told him…and he was probably there again today when I told him about the Horsemen," Amber said.

"What did you say?" Duncan asked.

"Basically described them to Shane, there's Silas the idiot, Caspian the psychopath…and Kronos…the power-hungry son of a bitch who wants to rule the world…"

"We're going to die," Richie said.

"No we're not," Duncan said, "why should Kronos want Shane?"

"Let's face it, Mac…it's not every day that an Immortal has a kid…furthermore, Kronos considers himself to be the end of time, so he must think Shane's something special too," Amber said.

"He's something allright," Methos said, "a headache."

"Well if Kronos thinks that Shane's going to be like him, he can't be doing too good a job of watching," Amanda lightly laughed.

"Maybe Kronos doesn't want him, maybe he's going to kill him," Richie said.

"Oh God…I've got to get back there," Amber said.

Duncan got off the couch and grabbed Amber by the back of her shirt, "no you don't…"

Amber jerked her shirt away from him, "Mac, I have to…I'm the only person who can…"

"Amber, you just left the cemetery, if Kronos is watching, no doubt from a distance, it's going to seem odd that you come back and tell Shane this, what's he going to do?" Amanda asked.

"I don't care…if we have to fight on holy ground, that's how it's going to be, but I'm not going to let him get to Shane," Amber said.

"Amber, you're not going," Amanda said.

"Oh yes I am," Amber replied.

"Oh no you're not," Richie said, "I just looked out the window, we've got some bad weather coming right this way."

"How bad are we talking?" Methos asked.

There was a crash of thunder and rain could be heard pouring outside, hitting the siding of the house like pellets.

"Fine thing," Amber said, "I get taken down by nature."

"Amber, calm down, you'll go to the cemetery after the storm stops," Duncan said, "besides, providing Shane stays at the cemetery…there's nothing to worry about."

"Oh really? When did you ever see Kronos on holy ground?" Amber asked.

"Never," Duncan realized, "Methos, he wouldn't fight there, would he?"

"How should I know? We never had the chance to find out," Methos replied.

"Don't worry Amber, I'm sure he'll be allright," Richie said.

"I sure hope so, I'd sure hate to explain to Rachel what happened," Amber said.

"It'll be allright, you can go see him as soon as the rain stops," Amanda said.

* * *

But the rain continued for the rest of the day, pouring out of the sky, beating down on everything it hit…building rivers on the sidewalks and in the streets.

By the time the afternoon had turned to night, Duncan, Amanda, and Methos looked out to see the water gushing down the street.

"If that rain gets any heavier, we'll have to tread water," Amanda said.

"Well don't let Amber hear this, but the rain's supposed to let up for a while…but it'll start again around 10 o' clock tonight," Duncan said.

"I don't know why she's so worried…I know she doesn't want anything to happen to Shane, but he's practically twice Kronos' size, all he'd have to do would be to step on him and he'd be a greasy spot in the road," Amanda said.

"Amanda, we're talking about Shane, not Godzilla," Methos told her.

"You're right…actually, if Shane just tried to hug him, he's liable to break every bone in Kronos' body," Amanda replied.

"Seriously though, what would Kronos want with Shane?" Duncan asked, "you'd think he'd come for you, Methos…after all, it was important to him that the 4 Horsemen stay together."

"Maybe he doesn't know where to find him," Amanda said.

"If not me, he'd know where MacLeod is," Methos said, "let's not forget, he must've done a very convincing act as Amber's Watcher if nobody caught on in the time he worked there…by now he has to have found out that she lives with him," Methos said.

"Well if he knows Duncan's here, you'd think he'd come to the conclusion that Methos is with him," Amanda said.

"And if he does know that, and there's no doubt he does…he'll probably come soon," Duncan thought.

"And what do we do if they do come here?" Amanda asked.

"Try feeding them some of your cooking," Richie said as she came down the back stairs, "that should make them shrivel up like slugs in salt."

"How long have you been listening?" Amanda asked.

"Evidently, not long enough," Richie replied.

"Where's Amber?" Duncan asked.

"In bed, she said she'll go to the cemetery first thing in the morning, until then, she's out cold on pills to get through the night," Richie explained, "so what's the battle plan if these three nitwits show up?"

"There isn't one currently," Amanda said.

"Oh great," Richie sighed, "I have a question, Mac, if you killed Kronos before, why would he come back? Wouldn't he be able to reach the conclusion that it'll happen again?" Richie asked.

"We don't know for a fact that it will," Amanda said, "Kronos may have a few new tricks up his sleeve."

"I hope not," Methos said, "I don't know that we could win if he did."

* * *

It was almost midnight, the rain had stopped, but the grounds were pure mud and rivers, every branch on every tree was soaked, just waiting for someone to shake them off. Shane had been out in the cemetery during the storm, now that it had stopped, he took his umbrella out from the elm tree's branch above Rachel's grave, shook off the water and closed it for the night and put it away.

"Well Rachel," he said, "that was a nice shower today…I guess it's time to turn in…"

Shane laid down by the base of the tree and stretched out and yawned, "goodnight."

Within a few minutes, Shane was practically dead to the world, while he had been awake, he had not once noticed the man watching him from outside the cemetery gates.

Kronos was watching Shane for the second night in a row. Shane had been gone two nights prior to that, but before that, Kronos had been watching him for two weeks. All that time had gone by, and here he was still in the same position, outside of the gates, looking in at his son. His son…he still hadn't gotten used to the idea, it still seemed too amazing to be true. Him, Kronos, the end of time, a father…after a while he came to the conclusion that he could believe it, here the boy was. Even though he knew that was impossible, never in the history of Immortals had one ever become a parent, and yet, it seemed the impossible had become possible in his case. Kronos could see that for himself. That was all he'd been doing since he found out, seeing Shane, watching him at night while he slept, it was all he could do.

He was ecstatic and frustrated, happy to have a son, but his blood boiled at himself, here he was, the end of time, the man with no conscience, and he didn't even have the nerve to go into the cemetery and speak to Shane. When had he gotten soft?

I'm getting to be like Methos, he thought to himself.

For centuries…millennia to be more exact, he'd done whatever he wanted, whenever he wished, with whomever he pleased, no regrets, no remorse, never considering the aftermath. He'd done it for thousands of years, all those things he'd done, he never regretted them. He still didn't regret them, he regretted that in the past he'd done things on instinct for things important and irrelevant alike, but now that the situation involved the most important thing to him since the Horsemen, he couldn't do it. All he'd been able to do was look on at him through the iron gates, and he cursed himself for it. Never had he had a problem confronting his own brothers, so why should it bother him meeting his own son? The same blood that ran through his veins ran through Shane's as well…this was his flesh and blood he was looking at.

Then Kronos got an idea, and he kicked himself for not thinking of it sooner. He turned around and walked away for the night. He'd have to get back and figureout exactly what he was going to do. If he couldn't go to Shane...Shane was going to come to him, one way or another.


	7. Chapter 7

The phone rang at the cemetery early the next morning. Shane heard it and woke up, he tried to get to the phone, and after slipping in the mud a few times, he actually got to it.

"Hello?"

"Shane, are you allright?"

"Amber? Yes, I'm allright, what's wrong?" Shane asked.

"I have some horrible news, I was going to tell you in person, but I can't get down there yet," Amber said, "but I've got to tell you before it's too late."

"What is it?" Shane asked.

"We found out yesterday that Kronos has been posing as my Watcher, Jason Kruger, he killed your Watcher, Edward White, who just happened to look exactly like him, put his clothes on Ed to make it look like Jason was dead. Then he went on posing as Ed, watching you at the cemetery…because as it turns out in 1977, Kronos came to Florida under the same name, met your mother, slept with her and then left shortly afterwards…I'm sorry Shane, but Kronos is your father," Amber told him.

Shane didn't know what to say, and for a long time he just stood there with the phone by his ear.

"Shane?"

"I'm here…"

"I'm sorry, Shane…I guess I could've told you in an easier way, but I've been worried all night…there's no doubt that he was the one watching us during that storm, and there's no doubt that he's still off somewhere, watching," Amber told him.

"What does he want?" Shane asked.

"We don't know…Shane…I know you've wanted to know your father your whole life, but now that we know who he is, I think you should just stay away from him until we can figure out something," Amber told him.

Shane nodded, "I understand…"

"I'll be down later as soon as the roads dry, until then, be careful, we don't know exactly what we're dealing with," Amber told him.

Shane hung up the phone and headed back to Rachel's grave.

"How do you like that, Rachel?" he asked, "I finally find out who my father is, and I can't even meet him…oh I know Amber wouldn't have told me to stay away from him if he weren't dangerous, but he is…one man's already dead because of him…and he did it, to get to me," he thought.

* * *

Duncan came in through the front door with Amber following behind him, because he was jerking her by her shirt. 

"What happened?" Amanda asked.

"I caught her trying to leave again," Duncan said.

"Mac," Amber started.

"Amber, you can't go out there yet, the streets still haven't dried up," Duncan told her.

"That's true, you try going out there now and you're bound to sink," Amanda said, "you'll have to swim to the cemetery."

"I have to get there anyway," Amber said.

"Amber, you can wait," Duncan said.

"Sure, but not peacefully," she replied, "Mac…what if Kronos comes for him before I get there? I mean I didn't get much of a chance to explain everything to him…put yourself in his shoes, if you just found out that Kronos was your father, what would you do?"

"Have a heart attack," Duncan replied.

"Exactly…and Shane's out there all alone, by himself," Amber said.

"What're you worried about? That the poor little thing can't defend himself?" Amanda asked, "Amber, have you seen Shane? He could squash Kronos if he wanted to."

"What is the matter with you people?" Amber asked, "incase you've forgotten, Kronos isn't alone, he has a 300 pound jackass and a cannibalistic psychopath with him…I'd say that's something to take into consideration."

"They wouldn't fight him on holy ground," Duncan said.

"You don't know that, Mac…neither you or Methos had the chance to find out if he'd actually do it," Amber replied, "and what if he does? What if he kills Shane?"

"Why would he do that?" Amanda asked.

"Why does Kronos do anything he does? He does what he wants, whatever enters that demented mind of his…he's never bothered to worry about whether it's right or not…that's the way he's lived his life his entire life, he acts on pure instinct, the first thing that he thinks of," Amber said, "what should stop him now?"

"You said yourself it's not every day an Immortal has a kid," Duncan said.

"Besides, Amber…I think you're getting worked up for nothing," Amanda added, "Kronos has been watching Shane for over 2 weeks, so why all of a sudden should he do something else?"

"I don't know, I just don't want to go to the cemetery and find his body and his head in two different places," Amber said.

"The streets should be dry by 11 o' clock, then…you can go," Duncan told her.

"I can't believe you, Mac," Amber said, "you should understand better than almost anyone why I'm worried."

"And why is that?" Duncan asked.

"Wouldn't you describe Kronos as being a good reason to worry?"

"That was when he was trying to rule the world…"

"And you really think this is better?" Amber asked, "Mac, come on, we have no idea what Kronos has planned for Shane…maybe he doesn't want Methos back in the Horsemen since he can't trust him…maybe he's going to replace him with Shane…or maybe he wants to make Shane a spitting image of him…a bastard who wants to rule the world…Mac…all I know is that whatever Kronos has planned, it can't be good, and he could get to Shane at any time since he knows where he is."

* * *

Shane was outside the cemetery gates picking some growing petunias for Rachel. After the phone call he'd gotten he decided it would be smart to stay near the cemetery incase Kronos decided to show up. And at that thought, Shane realized he didn't stand much chance of recognizing Kronos, since he'd forgotten to ask Amber what he looked like. 

Oh well, he thought, Amber would be coming down later, then she could tell him.

At that time, Shane heard something and he turned and saw one of Mrs. Widen's chickens had made its way all the way out to the cemetery.

"What're you doing here?" he asked, "go on home…bad chicken…bad, BAD CHICKEN!"

That seemed to spark something in the chicken's mind and it turned and went back the other way. After it left, Shane remembered this was the first time he hadn't needed to spank the chicken.

By that time, he'd picked a rather large bouquet of colorful petunias for Rachel and he took them back to put on her grave. On the way over, he slipped and fell in the mud a few times, it still hadn't dried up from the night before. Finally, after failing to get back up, Shane decided to swim over to her grave, when that failed, he decided to just slip through the mud and slide down that row. After he put the flowers on her grave, Shane managed to get up and he looked around and tried to imagine from where Kronos was watching him. It had to be somewhere nearby, but far enough away for him not to be noticed. Shane tried to turn and look another way, but he fell down when he did.

"If this keeps up," Shane said to himself, "I won't have to worry about fighting anybody, we'll all be falling down."

Shane decided to give up on trying to stand up and he just stayed where he was, and he was going to stay there until the ground had dried up a bit.

"Oh boy, Rachel," Shane said, "it's too bad you ain't here…I know you'd be laughing your head off at this…you probably are anyway, though…"

After a while, Shane noticed that the ground was starting to feel harder, so he took it as a sign that it was safe to get up. This time he didn't fall down, and he went over to the elm tree that had its branches filled with rain from the night before, and for some reason hadn't dried up yet. So he shook some of the lower branches to get the water to come down on him so he could clean up a bit. During that time, Shane was unaware of two people coming up to the back entrance of the cemetery.

"That's him?"

"Apparently so."

"What's Kronos want with him?"

"He never said…he just said that he wants him in one piece…"

Shane suddenly became aware of two Immortals approaching, he turned and looked and saw them…one of them had an oddly shaped head and a rather large body, and the other had a tattoo of a dragon on the side of his head and he was much thinner than the other man. Shane had noticed these details about them a bit too late, within a few seconds, they'd knocked him out by bashed his head against a tombstone. Shane's body was sprawled out on the ground, and Silas and Caspian picked him up and carried him away.

By that time, Amber had arrived at the front gates and she got a vague look at what was going on. What she could make out was two men putting Shane in the back of a black truck that looked like it used to be an ambulance. And she was positive she knew who the two men were, Amber threw open one door to the gate and rode in. By the time she got to the back entrance, the truck had disappeared and Amber saw they'd moved to a road down the hill. So she went chasing after them, after a few minutes she had gotten within 20 feet of the truck, and she moved into the next lane to get a better look at what she was going to do. When she had that figured out, she took her gun out of her pocket and tried to get a steady aim for the left front tire, but just as she was about to fire, someone else did.

Amber dropped her gun as she felt the pain surge through her hand that came with the bullet passing through her palm, another shot was fired and she was knocked off her bike. This time the bullet had gotten her in the chest, she wouldn't survive this one, which allowed Silas and Caspian to get away. She jerked off her helmet and looked up to see who had shot her, she'd never before seen the man who was standing above her, but one thing she noticed before she died was the unmistakable Watcher tattoo on his wrist.

* * *

"You don't think there's a reason to worry?" Amanda asked. 

"That's right," Duncan replied.

"Well then you're an idiot," Methos said.

"Why?" Duncan asked.

"Why?" Methos repeated, "MacLeod, have you gone mad?"

"It's a possibility," Duncan said.

"MacLeod, do you remember five years ago what we went through when Kronos was alive? Do you remember how much trouble we went through to get rid of him?" Methos asked, "he is alive again, and no doubt worse than the first time…and now he's come looking for his own flesh and blood, that idea in itself should scare the bloody HELL out of you…it certainly has me…because let's face it, what we see in Shane is basically what his mother taught him. What if he has the same anger and rage in him that Kronos does and he just hasn't found that out yet? If he does, Kronos could very easily awaken that in Shane, and turn him against us…I don't think you realize what we could be going up against."

"Methos…in 23 years, Shane has turned into what I'm guessing to be the spitting image of his mother…well…so to speak…you really think Kronos could change all that?"

"Why not? You don't know Kronos like I do, you haven't seen what he can do, for hundreds of years…you may think he's brilliant in some insane way…he's not as smart as he is cunning…put the two together and with Kronos you have a deadly combination…there's no telling what he could do with Shane," Methos said, "don't forget, Shane's only waited his entire life to meet his father…now it looks like he'll be getting his chance."

"We don't know that for sure, something could happen to Kronos before he gets to Shane," Duncan replied.

"Mac, how can you be so calm?" Richie asked, "last time, Kronos wanted to rule the world, who knows what he wants now?"

"I understand what all of you are saying, but it's not going to do any good to just stand around worrying, waiting for something to happen…we don't know where he is or even what he plans to do, or even when he plans to do it, so until he does something, there's nothing we can do," Duncan said.

Methos looked over at Amanda, "you've known him longer than I have, was he always like this?"

"No…a hundred years ago he'd be ready to rip the guy's heart out," Amanda replied.

"Kronos has no heart," Methos said.

They felt the presence of another Immortal and a few seconds later, the front door was bashed in and Amber stumbled in, the noise she was making was between screaming and crying. She seemed disoriented and almost fell to the floor, Richie caught her in time and brought her back up, he held her close to him to keep her still.

"Amber, what's wrong? What happened?" he asked.

Duncan, Amanda and Methos had gathered around them and were asking her the same questions. Amber quit crying long enough to get enough air in her to talk.

"They got him! They got Shane!"

"What?" everyone asked.

"I went down to the cemetery to see Shane…I left early because I wanted to get there before something happened…when I got down there, Silas and Caspian were there…they came in through the back entrance to the cemetery…they'd knocked him out and they put him in the back of a truck and they drove off…I followed them and I tried to stop them…but before I could, somebody shot me…"

"What?" Duncan asked.

"Someone shot me twice, once in my hand so I couldn't shoot at them…then again in the chest to kill me…it knocked me off my bike and they got away…the guy who shot me was a Watcher…when I came to, they had me back in the cemetery…there was another one with him, and they were going to kill me. But before they did, I attacked the first one and killed him…then I took his gun and shot the other one…oh God, I didn't ever want to do that again…"

"I can't believe I'm hearing this," Amanda said.

"Amber…what did you do with the bodies?" Duncan asked.

"They…they'd dug a grave to put me in after they killed me…luckily…it was big enough for both of them…and after I buried them, I came back here…I didn't know what else to do."

"There was nothing else you could've done," Methos said, "once they got away you wouldn't have been able to find them."

"Methos…I know…I know how Kronos got into the Watchers and nobody ever suspected a thing…the Watchers who tried to kill me, they worked with him…one of them was Norman Geiss, you told us about him, you said that Edward White had talked with him about Kruger's disappearance…another one, none of us had ever heard of…Byron Eberhardt…Kronos must've made a deal with them…or he must've threatened them unless they helped him…"

"Well that would explain a few things," Amanda said.

"I'm sorry…I'm sorry…"

"Amber, you don't have anything to be sorry for," Duncan told her.

"Yes I do! I promised Rachel I'd protect Shane with my life, and I can't even protect him from his own father!"

Amber weakly clung to Richie and began to sink to the floor, crying uncontrollably. Methos came up from behind and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Come on, let's get her upstairs," Methos said.

"What're you going to do?" Richie asked.

"I'm going to sedate her, it might calm her down," Methos said.

"Allright."

Methos took Amber by one arm and Richie by the other and they led her up the stairs.

"Duncan, can you believe it?" Amanda asked.

"No…"

"Why would the Watchers help Kronos?" Amanda asked.

"They must not have known who he was," Duncan said.

"Or they did, and they didn't have a choice," Amanda replied, "that had to be it, because they allowed him to get away with murdering Edward White…"

"Well these Watchers clearly weren't Immortal, so there must have been another reason why they would help Kronos," Duncan said, "I just can't put the whole thing together…why all of a sudden would Kronos come here if he wasn't going to fight us? And what was he doing in the Watchers in the first place? And why would he send Silas and Caspian out to get Shane instead of getting him himself?"

"I don't know…but I think we're going to have a hell of a time trying to figure it out," Amanda replied.

* * *

Meanwhile, upstairs Richie had Amber pinned to the foot of the bed while Methos prepared a shot for her. 

"What is that stuff?" Richie asked.

"Morphine, Demerol, heroin, opiates…and incase that's not enough, I also put in apomorphine," Methos replied.

"What's that?"

"A weaker version of morphine…trust me, we don't want Amber recovering anytime soon," he said.

Methos injected the combination into Amber and after a few minutes she had quieted down and quit thrashing around underneath Richie.

"I think you can put her to bed now," Methos said.

Richie got up, pulled back the sheets and laid Amber down and pulled the sheets up on her.

"Richie…" she said quietly, "I'm sorry…"

"It's allright, Amber…"

"I didn't want Kronos to get to Shane," Amber said.

"I know," Richie replied.

Amber seemed to fall asleep a few minutes later and Richie left, Methos was about to do the same when Amber woke up again.

"Methos…"

"What is it, kid?" Methos asked.

"I'm sorry, Methos…I really am…I tried to stop them…"

"Nobody's blaming you, Amber…just get some sleep, you'll feel better in a few hours…"

"No I won't," she replied as she rolled on her side, "I'll wake up and I'll remember what happened…Methos…I just feel awful about this whole thing, I said I wasn't going to let Kronos get Shane…and he did…"

"That wasn't your fault…Kronos has more help with him this time, and we don't even know what's happened…for all we know, Shane could be very well alive…"

"But we don't know, and we won't know," Amber replied.

"Youth…that's the problem with you young people these days, you have no patience," Methos said, "if we're going to find out what happened with them, it's going to take time…Kronos slipped up once before, he could do it again, and when he does, we'll find out where they are."

"Do you really believe that?" Amber asked.

"Why not? After 5,000 years, I'll believe just about anything," Methos said, "now get to sleep, kid…I'll see you when you wake up…"

After a few minutes, the drugs had taken effect and Amber had fallen into a deep and undisturbed sleep.

* * *

Shane woke up with a headache, at first he couldn't think where he'd gotten it from. Then he remembered, those two men in the cemetery had knocked him out, and then they'd brought him here…but where was here? 

It was too dark to see much of anything, all he knew currently was that he was on a hard floor somewhere. He felt the presence of Immortals approaching and it hit him that one of them had to be his father, Kronos.

Boy, that's going to take some getting used to, he thought.

As he got up to prepare for whoever was coming, he saw he was in some sort of storage room, although for what he wasn't sure. The door on the other end of the room swung open and the light came on, and Shane saw the skinny man with the tattoo on the side of his head.

For a minute, Shane didn't know what to think, then he figured this man must be his father, so he jumped at the man.

"Daddy!"

His weight knocked Caspian down and both fell to the floor, Caspian looked up and saw Shane hovering over him.

"I am NOT your father, now GET OFF OF ME!" Caspian hissed as he kicked Shane.

Shane got off him and stood up and he said to Caspian, "eh…you should find your mommy, you need a nap…and a spanking wouldn't hurt either," he muttered the last part to himself.

At that time, Silas came in to see what all the noise was about, and when Shane saw him, he jumped at him, yelling, "Daddy!"

Because Silas was much larger than Caspian, Shane's weight didn't knock him down, rather, Shane wound up in Silas' arms.

"Daddy?" Silas asked, he laughed a bit, then he looked at Shane confused, "Daddy?"

"Don't get any bright ideas," Caspian warned Silas, "well don't just stand there like a bump on a pickle, Silas…PUT HIM DOWN!"

Shane got himself down and he picked Silas up, "this is fun…can I take him somewhere?"

Caspian muttered something to himself before turning around and facing Shane, "PUT HIM DOWN!"

Shane put Silas down allright, onto Caspian's foot. Caspian kicked Silas with his other foot and it moved Silas against the wall.

"This has been fun, but I need help," Shane said, "have you seen my daddy? I know he's around here someplace."

"And I was the one put in the madhouse?" Caspian asked, "this kid's fruitier than a bat."

"Thank you," Shane said, "you know, speaking of animals, you remind me of a drowned rat."

Caspian was flabbergasted and just stared at Shane confused. Silas started laughing at his comment, and Caspian didn't take to it likely.

"What're you laughing at, you horse's ass?" Caspian asked.

Silas stopped laughing and he hit Caspian with a left hook so hard it sent him flying across the room and he hit his head on the opposite wall. Silas and Shane started laughing at the sight, Caspian pulled himself out of the wall and went back over to them.

"You think that was funny?" Caspian asked Silas, "well, you'll just DIE laughing at this."

Caspian grabbed Silas by his jacket and threw him over to the next wall. Silas hit the wall face first, leaving a large dent in the paneling. Caspian about fell down laughing at what he'd just done, Silas came charging and he head butted Caspian in the gut, knocking him down in the middle of the floor.

"Oh this is a lot of fun," Shane said as he applauded.

Another Immortal was approaching, Shane turned towards the door and saw a third one come in, this one was a man he'd never seen before. He was tall (although not as tall as Shane was), with short dark hair and a long scar over his right eye. After what he'd just been through, Shane was tempted to ask the man, 'are you my daddy?' when Caspian spoke.

"Kronos, are you SURE that you want this THING?" he asked.

Kronos. He said Kronos, Shane had to have heard him right. He looked at the man and couldn't believe his eyes.

"DADDY!"

Shane threw himself at Kronos, stopping himself a couple of inches away from him so they wouldn't fall to the floor, and he locked Kronos in a bear hug and lifted Kronos off the ground like a doll.

"Daddy! I'm SO glad to see you!" Shane squeezed Kronos close to him, knocking the air out of Kronos. "You have no idea how long I've wanted to see you!"

"We've never met," Kronos told him.

"True, but I've wantedto see you!" Shane replied.

Now Caspian and Silas were very confused, they looked at one another and asked, "daddy?"

Shane put Kronos down and Kronos started to explain. "Yes, that's why I wanted you to bring him here…that's why I told you to bring him in one piece…this…" he turned to Shane, "this is my son…"

Neither Silas or Caspian could believe what they heard, and both of them fell to the floor unconscious.

"Daddy?" Shane asked.

"Yes?" Kronos asked.

"You have some funny friends," Shane told him.


	8. Chapter 8

Kronos had been alive for five months, so had Silas and Caspian. Kronos had found out about the Watchers when he came across Norman Geiss. Norman explained to Kronos everything he needed to know about the Watchers in exchange for his life. He'd tried to find out where Duncan MacLeod had gone to now, several years later, but he was unable to find out much of anything. He'd tried to contact MacLeod's Watcher, Joe Dawson, but to no avail. So Kronos had done some research of his own. He found out where MacLeod was, also, he found out that there were three people living with him, all Immortals, Amanda Le Fevre, Richie Ryan, and Amber Jenzon.

He wasn't going to go in directly for the kill…he wanted to keep a close eye on them for a while, and see just who it was that MacLeod held so dearly to him these days. In order to do that, one of their Watchers would have to die, Joe Dawson was out of reach so he was out of the question…and Kronos realized that it would help if the suspicion of the murderer could point to an Immortal…but Richie and Amanda had very little if any reason to want their Watchers dead, let alone actually have it in them to do it…so Amber became a direct target…her horrible temper, her violent past, and the record of killing two Watchers already helped him ruin what was left of her credibility.

Kronos had made quick work in killing the old man…then he came in looking as if he didn't know a thing in the world, and he was the replacement Watcher. It wasn't by sheer accident that he met Edward White either…he'd seen the guy around a few times before actually running into him…he shortly found out who was his assignment…the name Pelka struck a memory…he knew a woman by that name, Amanda Pelka. So he fixed it so he and Edward couldn't help but run into each other and get acquainted…seeing as how their assignments knew each other very well, it was easy for the two Watchers to get acquainted and discuss their cases.

He had found out when Shane was born, adding an approximate extra nine months to it, and that was the time of which he'd met Amanda. So of course it got him to thinking, now he knew it was impossible for Immortals to have children, but he couldn't think of any other explanation. So he got White to go through with a DNA test on both of them, which revealed positive…then when White warned him that the other Watchers might retaliate to his honest opinions of them and their cases, he killed White and switched their clothes, had his body hidden away for a while, but he knew that it would be found and the Watchers would think instead that he had died instead of Edward, then by the time that they found out it wasn't him, his Watcher character would have long since disappeared, which he did rather well.

Kronos explained most of that to Shane while they were waiting for Silas and Caspian to wake up.

"I have a question," Shane said.

"Yes?"

"My mother…did you love her?" Shane asked.

"Very much…"

"Then why did you leave her?"

"Honestly? I didn't have a choice…I'd known your mother for little over a month…ordinarily I'd come and go as I pleased…nobody ever stopped me…nothing ever changed that…and then I met your mother…what that woman did to me I don't know…"

"What do you mean?" Shane asked.

"I think she put a curse on me…but that's not important…after meeting your mother, I didn't want to leave…so I stayed, and…"

"You fell in love with her."

"I wouldn't put it that way…but I suppose I did…she was different from the women I'd met in my entire life, and that's a lot of women…I don't know what it was…anyway…a little after the first month that we'd known one another…someone came to town looking for me."

"Who?" Shane asked.

"Just some enemies that I'd made over the last century…at the time, there were too many of them to get rid of at once, and I knew that when they found out about your mother, they'd use her to get to me…and I couldn't let that happen…she didn't know about Immortals, and I'm not sure she would've understood it either…and there was no guarantee that even after they were gone, more people wouldn't come looking for me…and if they did, they wouldn't just take Amanda away, they would kill her…it was too much of a risk, so I planned to leave for Europe so they'd follow me, and they'd leave her alone…I couldn't let her know about them because she would worry, and I couldn't let her know where I was going because she'd try to follow me…so I left with no explanation, no farewell…I knew she'd be devastated…but I preferred to have her alive and upset than dead and decayed…I left before either of us even knew about you…but I knew she'd get over my leaving…someone else would come into her life, and you did…"

Shane didn't know how to respond to that, he could understand that Kronos didn't want his mother to get hurt, but he thought his mother at least deserved an explanation for his disappearance.

A few minutes later, Silas and Caspian seemed to be gaining consciousness again.

"Ugh…my head," Caspian groaned.

"Be grateful you still have it," Kronos told him.

"What happened?" Silas asked.

"You fell down," Shane said.

"Oh…"

"Kronos, what did you say?" Caspian asked.

"You heard me…this is my son," Kronos said.

Caspian groaned and looked like he was going to fall down again, but Kronos grabbed him by the neck of his shirt.

"No you don't…we're not going to have a repeat performance," Kronos told him.

"How…how could he be your son?" Caspian asked.

"I don't know but I'm glad I am," Shane replied, "Daddy, who're your friends?"

Kronos pointed at the two, "this is Silas, and this is Caspian."

"Caspian?" Shane repeated, "I heard of him…"

"What've you heard?" Caspian asked.

"I heard…that you are a criminally insane psychopath," Shane said.

"Where did you hear that?" Kronos asked.

"From a friend," Shane answered.

"That was smart of them," Caspian said.

"What did you hear about me?" Silas asked.

"Uh…" Shane wasn't sure how to answer that.

"Well?"

"Uh…I heard…that you were a complete and total fool," Shane said.

"Huh? What did he say?" Silas asked.

"He said you're a fool!" Caspian laughed, practically hissing the last word, "and he couldn't be anymore accurate."

Silas took offense at that and swung his arms around to grab Caspian by the neck but he missed him and wound up hitting himself.

"Knock it off!" Kronos sneered, "get up, you pains in the ass."

"Where are we?" Shane asked.

"Come with me and you'll find out," Kronos said.

Shane followed Kronos out of the room, the hallway looked extremely familiar to Shane, but he couldn't figure out why. He'd been in a place similar to this before, but he couldn't remember where.

"We've been here for four months…we found it shortly after it'd been closed…"

"What for?" Shane asked.

"There was a fire…damaged two floors, after that, nobody had the balls to come back here, so they closed it down…Silas and Caspian stayed here while I was off being Jason Kruger…plenty of room here, nobody with half a brain comes here so we're never bothered…which is fine with us…when I came back here, I went to work with a new idea…that Scottish sewer rat, Duncan MacLeod, and that traitor Methos ruined my last plan…they're not going to get in the way this time."

"What happened last time?" Shane asked.

"The bastard, MacLeod killed me," Kronos said, "after that, the virus was disposed of…everything was forgotten."

"Daddy…"

"What?"

"I've been wondering…how did you come back?" Shane asked.

"I don't know and I'm not going to question it," Kronos replied, "I may not live to regret it."

"What about those two? Did you dig them up, or did they get out themselves?" Shane asked.

"Silas I had to dig up, Caspian chewed his way out of the coffin and he burrowed out of the ground," Kronos told him.

"Like a mole," Shane said, "or a gopher."

"Yes, unfortunately…I thought he was more along the bat breed," Kronos said, "oh well…both are annoying, both nobody likes, and both are notorious for biting…I suppose there's not that much of a difference."

"He's weird," Shane said.

"You should see him when he's hungry," Kronos said.

"No thanks…Daddy…"

"What?"

"What did this place to use be before it was closed?" Shane asked.

"A hospital," Kronos replied.

Shane stopped right where he was…that was it, that's why it looked so familiar to him. He'd been in plenty when he was younger to remember what they looked like…his mother used to take him to the hospital when he was young, after a few times, she'd stopped taking him. He didn't understand it at the time, but she'd taken him to make sure something was allright with him, and she stopped taking him when it was found out something was wrong.

"We ain't going back there no more," she'd told him, "if we do, then they're going to try and take you away from me…well I won't let them do it! If they think they're going to get my baby, they're going to have to kill me to do it. We don't go back and they don't make anymore stuff up…telling me my boy's stupid…you ain't stupid…THEY'RE the stupid ones…that's why they ain't going to get you, not as long as I'm alive…No…I won't let anyone take my son away from me, least of all those so called doctors."

Shane had tried to forget those words for years, but they came back to him instantly when he heard they were in a hospital.

"Shane, are you allright?" Kronos asked, "you're turning pale."

"Daddy…I don't feel so good," Shane said.

* * *

"How are we going to find them?" Duncan asked, "you can be sure if Shane's still alive, Kronos isn't going to take his eye off of him."

"And if he does, he'll either have Silas watch him, which is probably just as well, or he'll let Caspian do it, which can be identified as the worst thing he could do right about now," Methos said.

"I don't believe you…how can you be so damn calm?" Duncan asked.

"Because, right now there's nothing we can do, and the rest of us turning into a walking ulcer like you isn't going to do any good," Methos said.

"What about Amber? It's been over six hours and she's still asleep, what all did you give her?" Duncan asked.

"Just a little sedative…morphine, apomorphine, Demerol, heroin…"

"You call that little?" Duncan asked.

"Yes, if it were a large sedative, I would've given it to her in a glass of vodka," Methos replied.

"You're sick…"

"So what?"

"Nothing…I'm too tired to bother with you," Duncan said, "I feel awful."

"Good," Methos said.

"Good?" Duncan repeated.

"That's right…no sense in just us turning into wrecks over this whole thing…besides, you deserve to feel like crap after what you did."

"What did I do?" Duncan asked.

"Amber told you she had to get down to the cemetery and see Shane, and you had her wait, we're lucky she took off as early as she did so we at least know why Shane's not at the cemetery anymore…think if she'd waited as long as you told her…and if you hadn't made her wait, she could've gotten to him sooner, and he might still be here…"

"What good would it have done if she'd gone out there and got wiped out in the middle of the street?" Duncan asked.

"She's not an amateur, she's been through worse rides than what she might've gone through today…she kept saying she HAD to get down there…and when she finally did, it was too late to do anything…"

"I know…I know…don't you think I feel horrible for that as well?" Duncan asked.

"But it doesn't stop there…after Mario was killed, she said she never wanted to have to kill Watchers again…and she did, two more, who tried to kill her…just like the first time…"

"Only this time, no one else is going to find out because she buried the bodies…"

"That's not the point…you think it's horrible for you…try being her…she thinks this whole thing is her fault…"

"That's ri…"

Duncan stopped when Amanda came down the back stairs, "well?"

"Joe will be here soon," she said.

"Good."

"You know, Duncan, there's still something I can't figure out," Amanda said.

"What's that?" Duncan asked.

"Kronos didn't want this whole thing to be botched up, right?"

"So?"

"If Silas and Caspian are as big of idiots as you say, why would Kronos send them to get Shane?" Amanda asked.

"I don't know…I don't know anything anymore…"

"That's what we like about you, MacLeod," Methos said, "you're such an optimist."

"Get off my damn back!" Duncan said.

"Shut up," Amanda slapped the back of Duncan's head, "you'll wake Amber."

"You could light skyrockets in her underwear, trust me, you won't wake her," Methos told her.

"Methos…"

"What?"

"Did you give her those sleeping pills?" Amanda asked.

"What sleeping pills?" Methos asked.

"The ones I gave to you when you couldn't sleep," Amanda said.

"No…If I had, she would've stayed awake…"

"What?" Amanda asked.

"They're placebos, sugar pills…they don't do anything," Methos said.

"I don't believe it," Amanda said.

"Well Amanda, if he says they don't do anything," Duncan started.

"Not that…YOU took those pills shortly after we were married, every night you took them and you fell asleep…" Amanda said, "Duncan MacLeod, I have half a mind to…"

"To what?" Duncan asked.

"Try feeding him some of your cooking, that should do him in," Methos said.

"YOU shut up," Duncan said.

Amanda started chasing Duncan around the kitchen table while Methos stayed over by the kitchen sink and stayed out of their fight.

"Well MacLeod, looks like you made your bed, and now you have to lie in it," Methos said.

* * *

Shane was shown most of the hospital, a lot of the equipment was still in the building, and it still worked, namely the equipment used for brain scans, and other equipment to check for brain damage. He remembered how all that stuff worked from when he was younger.

"Shane, you've been acting odd forfour hours now, what's wrong?" Kronos asked.

"It's a long story…when I was little, my mother took me to the hospital…to make sure nothing was wrong…the doctors ran several tests on me…they used machines like those in there," Shane pointed to the CAT scan room, "and they told my mother they thought there was some brain damage…so we went home, and she said we weren't going back there anymore…if we did, they'd try and take me away from her…she said they'd have to kill her to get to me…"

"I doubt they would've been able to, your mother was one of the most relentless people I've ever met in my several thousand years of being alive," Kronos said.

Shane smiled, it was nice to hear someone talk about his mother in a positive way. He leaned against the wall and closed his eyes for a second, it had been a long day and he was getting tired.

"What is it?" Kronos asked.

"I'm tired, Daddy…" Shane said.

Kronos grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him forward, "follow me."

"Where're we going?" Shane asked, half asleep already.

"Well we haven't gotten a room ready for you yet, so you'll be spending the night with me," Kronos said.

"But Daddy," Shane said.

"Personally, I don't like the idea of you and Caspian being in the same room alone, and Silas…I think it's best you stay where I can keep an eye on you for the time being."

"Daddy…" Shane repeated.

"Shane…I realize this is sudden and a bit confusing, but trust me, it's better that you stay with me right now," Kronos said.

"Okay, Daddy…" Shane said.

Kronos took Shane into his bedroom, the room was dark but Shane could make out several things around them. There were shelves on the walls full of books and a couple of skulls, on one side of the room there was a table by the wall with four chairs around it, over by the door was Kronos' sword, in the middle of the room was a large trunk locked and bolted, and a few feet beyond that was his bed. Shane thought he should say something to Kronos, but decided against it and instead he went over to the bed and laid down. It was what he had heard people refer to as a Longfellow bed, it was longer than regular beds; he knew this because his feet didn't hang over the edge.

He heard Kronos say that he'd be back later, then he left, and Shane rolled over and tossed and turned but he couldn't get comfortable…he figured he'd have better luck if he clawed the stuffing out of the mattress.

* * *

"Is she still asleep?" Duncan asked.

"Mac, a hurricane could come through here and tear up everything, it won't get her up," Richie replied.

"She's been asleep for a long time," Duncan said.

"Methos mixed up a pretty potent sedative for her," Richie said.

"I know, he told me…you think when she comes around, she'll still blame herself?" Duncan asked.

"Afraid so, Mac…I mean, Amber told Rachel that she'd protect Shane…I think she's dreading having to go back there and tell her she couldn't protect him from his father," Richie said.

"Richie…"

Richie and Duncan looked down at Amber…she seemed to still be half asleep.

"Richie…where's Shane?" she asked.

"He's not here now, Amber," Duncan told her.

"Oh…does Kronos still have him?"

"I'm afraid so."

"I was afraid of that…"

There was a knock on the doorframe, Richie and Duncan turned and saw Methos enter the room.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"She's awake," Duncan said.

Methos made his way over to the bed and looked down at Amber, "and how are you?"

"I feel awful," she weakly replied.

"Join the club," Methos said, "we're the alumni members."

"I think I'll go now," Duncan said, "goodnight."

"Goodnight, Mac," Richie called as Duncan left the room.

"Methos," Amber said, "I'm sorry about what happened…and I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused everybody…"

"It's allright, Amber."

"I still can't believe what happened…I feel horrible that they got Shane," she said.

"Don't be," Methos said, "Amber…since you've known Shane, what's the one thing he always wanted to do?"

Amber didn't answer, but she knew, and Methos knew she did.

"There, you see?" Methos said, "Shane always wanted to know his father, who he was, what he did…now he's finding out…he wouldn't want you to be upset for that…"

"But Methos…it's different, we thought he was mortal…we thought he was better than Kronos," Amber replied.

"It doesn't matter, Shane wanted to find out about his father, regardless of who he was…that's why he wanted to find him…and he's probably happy knowing him…"

"Happy?" Amber asked as she sat up in the bed, "knowing Kronos? Are you nuts?"

"Well Amber…you know Shane, he can get happy over pretty much anything, so I wouldn't put it past him," Richie said.

"Exactly…so don't worry about it," Methos said, "now go back to sleep."

"How long have I been asleep?" Amber asked.

"For about 12 hours," Richie said.

"And you expect me to sleep after that?" Amber asked.

"Yes."

"Fine…sounds good to me," Amber said as she laid back down.

"You too," Methos told Richie.

"Why me?"

"Because I'm the oldest and I said so, now get to bed," Methos said.

* * *

Kronos had been in bed for two hours and he couldn't get to sleep…he'd tried just about every sleeping position known to man and he still couldn't sleep…he was beyond tired, in fact he was beyond exhausted, but no matter what, he couldn't fall asleep. He sat up in the bed and tried to think what was keeping him awake…and something occurred to him, he was the only one there.

He looked over at the other side of the bed and saw that Shane was gone. Kronos realized he wasn't anywhere in the room, and he jumped out of bed and looked around, trying to think where he could be. He could feel another Immortal out in the hall, so that was where he was going to look first, he threw the door open and ran out and he tripped over something, and he found himself with a mouthful of linoleum. Getting up he looked behind him and saw what he tripped over. Shane was asleep in the middle of the floor, curled up in a ball like a dog. Kronos was almost certain something was wrong with him, he started shaking Shane to wake him up.

Shane barked a couple of times and opened his eyes and looked around. "HI DADDY!"

"Shhhhhh!" Kronos hissed, "do you want to wake up Caspian and Silas?"

"IS IT MORNING?" Shane asked.

"No it is not," Kronos replied, "what are you doing out here…what's wrong?"

"I can't sleep in your bed," Shane said.

"What?"

"I tried to tell you earlier, I've spent so long sleeping on the ground that I prefer it to sleeping in a bed…I tried to tell you earlier, but you said 'trust me, it's better that you stay with me', so I said 'okay Daddy', and I went in with you…and after you came in and went to sleep…I couldn't stay there anymore, so I got up and crept out here, and I lied down and I went to sleep," Shane replied as he laid down again.

"Why didn't you tell me that before?" Kronos asked.

"Because you said 'trust me', and I didn't want you to get mad," Shane said.

Kronos couldn't believe what he'd heard, "what?"

"Are you mad now, Daddy?" Shane asked.

It was really curiosity more than anything, but Kronos thought Shane was also afraid that he'd made him mad.

"No I'm not mad…I was surprised…you weren't in the room and I didn't know where you were…and I told you to stay away from Silas and Caspian for the time being…"

"Well I'm right here, Daddy…goodnight…"

"Wait a minute," Kronos said, "you're actually allright sleeping like a dog?"

"Yes…why? Is something the matter with it?" Shane asked.

"No…but why'd you come out here to sleep on the floor? What's wrong with the floor in my room?" Kronos asked.

"I didn't want you to trip if you got up in the night," Shane said.

"Well I'm up now…come on, you can sleep in my room and I can keep my eye on you that way," he said.

"Okay."

Silas watched from his doorway down the hall, the noise from when Kronos had tripped was what had woken him up. Seeing that the problem had been taken care of, he turned around and headed back into his room. On the floor below, Caspian was trying to get back to sleep, but to no avail. He'd also heard the ruckus, but after everything had quieted down, he was too restless to go back to sleep, so he kept tossing and turning on his bed, hoping soon he'd fall asleep, but nothing happened. He was tired, miserable, and still awake…then he got an idea, and he ripped open his pillows and threw the feathers all over the bed and stuffed a few in his clothes, and he laid back down and got comfortable, and he thought of how much it reminded him of the old days.

"Daddy," Shane said.

"What?"

"Is something wrong with Silas and Caspian?" Shane asked.

"Yes," Kronos replied.

"What?"

"I don't know…I've been trying to figure it out for two thousand years…personally, I think when they were babies, someone dropped them on their heads a few times too many."

Shane laughed, he could see that being the reason Silas was the way he was, but Caspian he wasn't so sure about.

"Daddy…"

"What?"

"Is it true that Caspian used to go to bed with chickens?" Shane asked.

"Only when he couldn't find…now who told you that?" Kronos asked.

"A friend…"

"Who?" Kronos asked.

Shane didn't answer. Amber had told him, and she'd heard it from Kronos, but he couldn't tell him that.

"Shane."

"Hmmm?" Shane asked.

"Are you hiding something from me?" Kronos asked.

Shane shook his head.

"I didn't think so."

Kronos got back into bed and Shane got down on the floor, he turned around three times before lying down curled in a ball again.

"Shane…"

"Hmmm?" Shane looked up and over at Kronos.

Kronos tossed a pillow off his bed and hit Shane with it, "perhaps you'd prefer not to get a stiff neck tonight."

Shane took the pillow and repositioned himself on his back, sprawled out on the floor.

Kronos turned on his side and tried to get back to sleep, but now something else was keeping him awake. He heard on the floor below a weird noise, similar to someone growling and biting into something with their mouth already full. Kronos took a piece of pipe out from behind the headboard of his bed and pounded it on the floor.

"Shut up Caspian! Do you want to wake the dead?"

"I'm already up!" he replied.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: I'd like to thank SouthernChickie for her help with this chapter.

"How many heads have you taken?" Kronos asked the next morning.

Shane thought about it for a minute before answering, "three."

"How long have you been Immortal?" Kronos asked.

"About ten months…is that bad?" Shane asked.

"You're off to a bit of a slow start…but that could change within time…have you had much training?"

"Uh…not really…I don't…"

"No matter…we'll see how you do…"

"I don't have my sword," Shane told him.

"Where is it?" Kronos asked.

"At the cemetery," Shane replied.

"Fine…I'll go get it, you stay here," Kronos said.

"With them?" Shane asked.

"Yes…in the daytime you can see what they're doing…I'll be back shortly…and if Caspian tries anything stupid…"

"Don't worry, Daddy…I'll take care of him," Shane said.

Kronos left without another word, he trusted Shane would be allright…he didn't seem to have any trouble with Caspian or Silas the night before.

* * *

"How'd you sleep last night?" Amanda asked.

"I felt like I got hit by a bus…did you sleep?" Duncan asked.

"I got about an hour's worth…the whole time I dreamt Kronos and the other two Horsemen were here…Kronos took your head, Caspian took out your vertebrae, and Silas killed Methos and burnt his body…pretty soon the whole house was burning down with the rest of us in it…it was not a pretty picture," Amanda explained.

"No, I wouldn't think so," Duncan said.

Methos came down the back stairs looking half asleep still, "you think you had a rough night, you should've been with me."

"What happened?" Amanda asked.

"I dreamt that it was the Bronze Age…I was Death again…I come back to the camp and find Caspian added five new skulls to his collection…yours…"

"Methos…why did Caspian keep the skulls with him when you guys were together?" Amanda asked.

"He thought they'd make him smarter…it never worked," Methos replied.

"I wouldn't imagine," Duncan said.

"I still don't know why you ever worked with them," Amanda said.

"It was a time when everything was different…if you'd been around then, I imagine you'd know," Methos told her.

* * *

Shane decided while Kronos was out, to do some looking around the hospital by himself. He headed down to the next floor and heard a loud noise like something had fallen down. He turned at the corner and saw Caspian was laying on the floor, and it gave Shane an idea, and he hunched over and ran and jumped over Caspian and he got up again.

"You sure pick a funny time to play leapfrog," he said.

Caspian groaned as he rolled over and stood up, he went over to the wall and started banging his head against it. Silas heard the noise and came down to see what was going on, he went to where Caspian was and jerked him away from the wall.

"What're you doing?" he asked.

"There is no way I belonged in the damned madhouse…you look at that ass," Caspian said, "he is a complete and total asshole…how can Kronos stand to keep him here?"

"I don't know," Silas replied, "but if Kronos hears you, he'll…"

"He'll what?" Caspian asked, "in any case he's not even here…so what does it matter?"

"But he'll be back soon, and when he is, if he hears you," Silas said, "he's bound to take your head."

"We'll see about that," Caspian replied.

* * *

Kronos couldn't believe what had happened. The last thing he remembered was arriving at the cemetery two days ago, and he looked up and saw a stone gargoyle had broken off of its perch on the church and fell down and hit him. He'd just recently woken up, and having no luck in finding Shane's sword had gone back to see if Shane knew anything about it.

As soon as he returned to the hospital, he knew something was wrong. He felt the presence of two Immortals, but one seemed to be fading. By the time Kronos got to the third floor, he was beginning to get an idea of what happened while he was gone. In the hallway there were the remains of several people, including entire skeletons, also there were some feathers here and there…they strongly resembled chicken feathers. Coming from the next floor up, Kronos could hear someone screaming, so that was where he was going to go next. As Kronos turned at the corner he saw Silas' body leaning against the wall, with a knife in his chest.

Momentarily ignoring the near ear-shattering screams, Kronos went over to his body and jerked the knife out. Within a short time, the wound had healed and Silas was alive again.

"A fine thing…I'm gone for two days, I come back and the entire place is a madhouse…what the hell happened?" Kronos asked.

"It was Caspian," Silas replied, "he…"

"What? He did all this? It's because of him that we've been having visitors and you didn't do anything?" Kronos asked, ready to plunge the knife back into Silas' heart if he didn't have a good answer.

"If he did that, he did this to me before he did any of it…" Silas replied.

"How…" Kronos was about to ask how Silas could let himself be attacked and defeated by someone half his size. But he decided there wasn't time…by now he was able to distinguish the screams on the floor above as Shane's, so he had Silas find Caspian while he went to see what had happened with his son. Silas ran into the doorway to Caspian's room as he found him sitting at the foot of his bed, having a staring contest with the skull of a recent guest.

"How long have you been doing that?" Silas asked.

"Five hours and neither of us has blinked yet," Caspian replied.

"Kronos wants to see you," Silas told him.

As Caspian looked up, Silas charged at him and grabbed him.

Kronos reached the top of the 4th floor and went into the room where Shane was being kept. Kronos found him tied to a bed with hospital restraints and chains tied around his wrists and feet to keep him from moving much. Despite that, Shane was writhing from side to side, screaming and crying in agony. Kronos couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"Daddy," Shanemoaned as he became aware of his father's presence in the room.

Kronos went over to the bed, with his sword he cut the chains at Shane's wrists, and he undid the restraints, and he moved down towards his feet to do the same. As Kronos got the restraints undone down there, Shane jerked about and kicked Kronos in the face, accidentally Kronos assumed. Kronos got back to the head of the bed and wondered what could've done this to Shane. He got his answer as he looked over at the nightstand where he found used syringes, and empty bottles and containers.

Silas came charging up the stairs and into the room, "Caspian will be here soon."

"He better be," Kronos said, "I intend to repay the favor with him."

"What happened here?" Silas asked.

"It would seem Caspian wanted to see what would happen if he were to inject all this shit into him," Kronos said.

"Is he going to come out of it?" Silas asked.

"Yes, but exactly how long that will be is what I don't know," Kronos replied, "first I'm going to find out how long ago Caspian did this to him."

Silas could tell that Kronos was a bit concerned. Shane was still screaming, although not as loud as he was before, and he still writhed from side to side as if he were still tied up.

"I'll keep an eye on him, Kronos…you find out what the bastard did to him," Silas said.

Kronos agreed and left the room, Silas noticed that Kronos left the knife on the nightstand. Silas picked it up and shoved it into Shane's chest…he quickly died and that ended the noise…Silas kept a good hold on the handle to pull it out in a moment's notice, but right now he wanted the silence to hear Kronos punishing Caspian, and he wasn't disappointed when he heard the inhuman screams that emerged from the hallway. After the noise died down, Silas decided enough time had passed, and he jerked the knife out.

* * *

Shane came to and saw his father standing over him, at the time, Shane still wasn't quite all there, so he didn't think much of that, or of anything.

"Hello, Shane…how are you feeling?"

"I don't know," Shane replied, "what happened?"

"You had an accident," Kronos explained.

"Accident?" Shane repeated.

"Yes…I made the mistake of leaving you here with Caspian while I was gone," Kronos said.

"What happened?" Shane asked.

Kronos explained what he could understand had gone on in the last two days, Shane seemed to understand, and he insisted that he was allright.

"There's just one thing I don't understand…after recovering from being tackled by that gargoyle, I looked all over the cemetery and I couldn't find your sword," Kronos said.

"I'm sorry, Daddy…I thought I left it there…then I remembered it left it near the cemetery," Shane said.

"Well you're going to show me where it is…" Kronos said, "I'm not about to go back there and miss it again, and I'm not about to leave you alone with Silas and Caspian again."

"No problem," Shane replied.

* * *

Richie heard Amber and woke up and turned on the lights. Amber looked like she was wrestling with herself in her sleep, and she looked like she was losing. Richie got out of bed and went over to hers and grabbed her and shook her until she woke up.

"Oh Richie…you wouldn't believe the dream I had," she said.

"I probably don't want to, either," Richie said, "what is it?"

"I dreamt that Shane was back at the cemetery, and it was all as if nothing had happened…" she explained, "it seemed so real…and it was so nice to know that he was alive…"

"I'm sure he's allright, Amber…try and get back to sleep," Richie said.

Richie went back over to his bed and was about to lie back down when he heard Amber, he figured she wouldn't be going back to sleep for a while, meaning she wouldn't let him go back to sleep for a while, so he just sat down at the foot of his bed.

"Richie…why does everyone keep telling me not to worry about it? Shane could be dead…and why does everyone keep saying it's not my fault? It's because of me that they got him," Amber said.

"Amber, you couldn't have known that that day, at that exact time that they'd come for him…and say the Watchers didn't stop you? What if you actually caught up with them? Then what? You'd be off holy ground and there'd be two of them against you…you could've gotten killed and they still would've taken Shane away…" Richie explained.

"Maybe not, maybe I could've taken them," Amber said.

"You don't know that," Richie said, "Amber, please…it is too late to be having this conversation…so please…go back to sleep."

* * *

"Why did you move it over here?" Kronos asked.

"Well…on holy ground I don't really need it, so I keep it over here," Shane explained, "it's within reach incase I meet someone at the cemetery."

Shane had taken Kronos to an old stone house beyond the graveyard and the church, it was a large house, but hidden from plain sight. It was two stories high, there were many windows, all with bars in them, and the front door being the only entrance to the house. Shane had placed his sword in the middle of the first room by the table, after he got it, he locked up the house again and they started to leave.

"You live there?" Kronos asked.

"Not for long," Shane said, "I don't spend too much time here these days."

"Then why didn't you leave?" Kronos asked.

"I couldn't do that," Shane replied.

"Why not?" Kronos asked.

"Because my mother's here," Shane said.

"What?" Kronos asked.

"After she died…I buried her here," Shane said.

"Here?" Kronos asked.

"Yes…well not HERE here," Shane pointed at the ground, "but over there…you want to see her?"

"Why not? I last saw her almost 24 years ago, I suppose I could pay her a visit now."

Shane took Kronos by the hand and jerked him down the property a ways. When they got to the side yard, Kronos saw a large white stone in the middle of the ground. He figured Shane had put it there for a tombstone or a grave marker.

"Mom!" Shane called as they came closer to the stone, "Daddy's here…do you want to talk to him?"

Kronos got loose from Shane's grip and stayed a few steps back from him.

"Why don't you catch her up on what you've been doing first," he suggested.

"Okay…" Shane went over to the stone and looked down at the ground, "oh boy Mommy…you wouldn't believe what's been going on…Daddy found me and he had two of his friends come and get me, and I woke up in the hospital where we're staying…oh, ooh! Good news, Mommy…nobody's working there anymore…and I'm staying with Daddy, and Silas is an idiot and Caspian picks the oddest time to play leapfrog, and he's been having chickens over…and Daddy came here and he got hit with a gargoyle and he came back and got me and that's why we're here now…" Shane looked back at Kronos and walked over to him, "okay Daddy…your turn."

"Go back to the cemetery and wait for me," he told him.

"Okay…"

After Shane had left, Kronos went over to where the stone was and he looked down.

"24 years Amanda, I never thought I'd find you here this soon…I'm guessing you didn't expect me to come back…well, you didn't expect me to leave either…perhaps you deserved an explanation for what happened, but I didn't tell you for the same reason I left in the first place, you weren't going to die because of me…" he laughed, "That's probably the only time I ever thought that about someone…but I knew you'd move on from it, just like you always did…that's something I noticed about you when I met you, it wasn't often that anything slowed you down…when something happened, you just kept on going, that's why I wasn't too concerned when I left…and when I did, I knew that someone else would come into your life.

"I must've known something would happen…but I never thought it would be this…I…I still cannot believe it…seen him with my own eyes, touched him with my own two hands and I still can't believe it…we had a son…I…after over 4,000 years I thought I'd seen everything…but not this…this is impossible, it has to be…and yet, it's happened…I don't know how it happened, but I'm glad it did…uh…Shane told me about some of the things that you did…what you did to protect him…I'm glad to see that the woman who raised him was the exact same woman that I fell in love with…I don't know exactly what you did when you brought him up, but whatever it was, it seems to me that you did a damn good job…"

Kronos looked up and saw that the sun was starting to set.

"I should be going…I left Shane waiting in the cemetery…" before he left, Kronos decided he was going to get one last thing off his chest, "I told him that you were unlike anyone I ever met…and it's true…because of you, something's happened to me now that has never happened in my life…I'm sorry…I'm sorry for not returning sooner…perhaps some day we'll meet again…"

With all being said that would be said, Kronos turned around and walked away.

* * *

"And now I'm staying with him at a hospital for a while, which is why I don't want you worrying about me since I won't be here," Shane was telling Rachel when Kronos came to the cemetery.

"Ready to go?" Kronos asked.

"Yeah, I was just talking to Rachel," Shane said.

"Who?" Kronos asked.

"Rachel."

"Who?"

Shane pointed to her tombstone, "Rachel…"

Kronos went over to the grave and read the tombstone, "friend of yours?"

"We were going to be married," Shane said.

"What happened?" Kronos asked.

"She was in an accident," Shane explained.

Kronos slightly nodded in understanding and said nothing.

"Did you talk to Mom?" Shane asked as they left the cemetery.

"Yes…I'm not sure she was thrilled to see me, but I told her everything I had to say," Kronos said.

"I'm sure she was happy to see you," Shane said, "she always liked it when people visited."

"Is that a fact?"

"Of course not a lot of people visited us…I don't think they liked us too much."

"Oh? And why not?" Kronos asked.

"They said that I scared them," Shane said, "when I was little, a lot of the other kids threw things at me so my mother gave me permission to bite them."

Kronos laughed, "that sounds like something your mother would say."

"And then the parents called and complained and she told them to come over and she told them what their kids did to me, and the other parents called her a bad parent so she bit them," Shane added.

Kronos howled in laughter, "that's your mother allright."

"Then the parents said that we'd get in trouble if any of their kids got sick, because I didn't have shots like the rest of them…so she took me to the hospital to see if I needed any…and it was around that time they also started running tests on me to see if I was brain damaged because they said I acted weird," Shane said. "But they told her they thought I was before they gave me any shots so she just took me home and we didn't go back, so my mother told me if the other kids bothered me again, to say one thing to them."

"What's that?" Kronos asked.

"My mother can have you eliminated with one phone call," Shane said.

"What?" Kronos asked.

"I never understood it either, but it worked," Shane said, "but that wasn't the end of that…as I got older, more new people moved to town and their kids were a lot more trouble…and it got to a point where there was really nothing that we could do about them…so my mother and I would mainly go out at night after everyone else had gone to sleep…that way, nobody bothered us."

"I see…Shane, there's something I want to know," Kronos said.

"What's that?"

"I'm trying to figure out why you'd have your mother buried by the house when Rachel was buried at the cemetery," Kronos said.

Kronos could see Shane was a bit hesitant to explain that, but after a while, Shane seemed willing to talk.

"I buried her there so they wouldn't find her," he said, "when she died…they told me that she had it written out that she wanted to be cremated and her ashes kept in an urn…but that wasn't true, she didn't believe in cremation, she believed that a body belonged buried in the ground and that's where she wanted to be put when she died. If I'd tried to arrange a funeral, they would've stopped me…and I had to do something fast because they were getting ready to put her in the crematory oven…so I took her body from the funeral home, and I brought her back to the house, and I hid her out for a while…then at night when I knew it would be safe, I dug a grave in the yard and laid her to rest in it, and I buried her…

"And I carved an epitaph on a rock and I put it deep in the ground so if anyone found it, they'd just see the top of the stone…I did everything that I could've done if there'd been a funeral…so it was at least a decent ceremony…I know it's what she wanted…she believed bodies belonged in the ground, not burnt to ashes, not sold to a medical school, not frozen for a hundred years, not above ground in a sarcophagus…it's just what she believed, and that was fine," Shane explained.

"Why wouldanyone want to have her cremated?" Kronos asked.

"To cover it up…they were going to cremate her before they could even get a pathologist in to perform the autopsy…that way, nobody would ever know what happened," Shane said.

Shane didn't say anything else and Kronos decided that was the end of their discussion.

* * *

Richie tried to think. He didn't remember how he got to this place, or even what he was doing there in the first place. It didn't seem to matter now, he was there and he came for a reason, so he had better figure out what it was.

As soon as he'd gotten in the place, he recognized it as a hospital…although he'd certainly never seen the place before when it was running, so he had no idea how he found it like it was. He'd gotten up to the second floor and was looking around, seeing that a lot of the equipment and supplies were still in the place when he ran into someone. The next thing Richie knew, he fell on the floor and landed flat on his back, when he got up, he saw a horrible sight in front of him. The man who was also getting up fit the description Amber used to describe Caspian. Richie had heard plenty horror stories of what he was capable of doing, so he pulled out his sword and he was ready for a fight. But Caspian ignored him, he just got up and looked around, it was like he didn't even see Richie.

"Are you blind or something?" Richie asked, "I'm right here! So come on and fight."

But Caspian didn't hear Richie, and he didn't see him either, so he just turned around and walked away.

Richie couldn't understand what had just happened, how had Caspian missed him?

Then something occurred to Richie, how had he missed Caspian? Why didn't he sense his presence before he ran into him? Then Richie figured it out, he was dreaming. He had to be, there could be no other explanation. That would explain why Caspian couldn't see him, and why neither Immortal felt the other's presence, and why Richie had no recollection of even coming to the hospital.

"Boy oh boy…this is a weird dream," he said to himself, "oh well…I might as well enjoy it."

So Richie decided to continue exploring the place, so he went over to the next set of stairs and headed up to the third floor. When he got to the top of the stairs he saw Silas around the corner. He remembered what Amber said about him being an idiot, so Richie decided since this was a dream to have a little fun. He went over to Silas and started poking him in the back, Silas turned around and Richie poked him in the stomach.

"Hello you murdering bastard," he said jokingly, "any victims tonight?"

Silas didn't say anything so Richie just kept on heckling him.

"Oh boy are you ugly…Amber told me you had a head like a casaba melon, but now that I see it, I think it looks like more a deflated football…I bet when you were born, your whole family got slapped stupid."

Before Richie could say anything else, Silas grabbed him by the neck and threw him against the wall, impaling Richie on some spikes that were sticking out of the wall. Richie could hardly acknowledge the excruciating pain due to an overwhelming numbness that was spreading through his body. While he was stuck there, Silas kept knocking his head against the wall, until Richie was sure the wall was starting to break.

Death was surrounding Richie, he knew he wouldn't survive, he wouldn't live past this, but right now, even death seemed more pleasant than the pain he was in right now.

Richie couldn't see where he was, but he figured he was slipping into death, he could feel himself writhing around and he could hear himself moaning, but at the same time he felt like he wasn't even there. He heard someone calling him, at first it was impossible to figure out what they were saying to him, after a while, he listened more closely and heard it as wake up.

* * *

He opened his eyes and saw Methos and Amber standing over him, and Amber had part of his shirt bunched up into a ball in her hands, which had jerked him up a bit when she pulled. A dream, he thought, it was all a dream, and with that in mind, he started to sink back down onto the bed.

"Are you allright?" Methos asked, "we could both hear you screaming, what the bloody hell happened?"

"Oh man," Richie groaned, "it was a nightmare…I dreamt that I was at this old hospital, and Caspian and Silas were there…Caspian couldn't see me…he had no idea I was even there…but Silas…after I insulted him a few times he picked me up and impaled me on something on the wall and he kept beating my head against it until the plaster caved in…God, it was terrible…but I'm glad it's over…"

Amber let go of Richie shirt and lifted up the bed sheet that was covering Richie's lower body, "yeah, it would be great except for one thing…"

"What's that?" Richie asked.

"It actually happened," Amber replied.

Before Richie or Methos could say anything, Amber pulled back the sheet and they saw blood covering the bottom of Richie's shirt as well as his boxers and the bed sheet beneath him. Richie lifted up his shirt and they saw that the wounds had healed, but the evidence remained proving that it had been more than just a dream.


	10. Chapter 10

"What the hell happened?" Richie asked.

"I don't know…but that couldn't have been a dream…" Amber said.

"It had to be, he was here the whole time," Methos said.

"But the dream didn't do this to him…whatever Silas did to him in the dream, it really happened," Amber replied.

"Damn, then I'm glad you guys woke me when you did, otherwise I'd be in two pieces by now," Richie said.

"It had to be real," Amber said, "it has to be…in a way…there's no other way this could've happened."

"Wait a minute, wait…Richie, you said that Caspian didn't even know you were there, but Silas did?" Methos asked.

"That's right."

"What about Kronos?" Amber asked.

"I didn't see him," Richie replied.

"What're we going to do?" Amber asked, "if Richie goes to sleep again and dreams he's at the hospital…"

"Do you know what hospital?" Methos asked.

"No…all I know is that they were the only ones there," Richie said.

"I can't believe this is happening," Amber said, "what do we do?"

"I wish I knew," Methos replied.

"Well look, Methos…why don't you go back to bed?" Richie suggested.

"Are you crazy?" Methos asked.

"Methos, relax…I'm sure everything's going to be fine."

"For your sake, I hope so," Methos said.

"Methos, go…"

"If you weren't family, I'd strangle you for being as careless as you are."

Methos turned and left the room and Richie shut the door behind him and went back to his bed.

"Well I guess we should turn in too," he said.

"Richie, are you crazy? What if you go back there?" Amber asked, "if Silas sees you again…or if Kronos sees you, he'll kill you."

"Amber, calm down," Richie started.

"I don't want to calm down! You almost died tonight, now you want to risk it again?" she asked.

"Amber, I know you're a bit scared," Richie said.

"A BIT?" Amber showed Richie her wrist, which was shaking rapidly, "you think that's from enthusiasm? Richie…I don't want you to die."

"You think I do?" he asked, "Amber…what are the odds of it happening again?"

"About the same as the odds of it happening in the first place," Amber said, "do you really want to risk it?"

"Amber…I'll be fine…trust me."

"I wish I could."

* * *

"Have you had much practice?" Kronos asked.

"Uh…sort of," Shane replied.

"Well then…why don't you show me what you know?" Kronos asked.

"I…I couldn't do that," Shane said.

"Why not?" Kronos asked.

Shane tried to think of a way to explain it to Kronos, but his patience ran out before Shane could answer.

"We'll do it downstairs on the next floor…I'll be waiting," Kronos said.

Kronos left the room and headed downstairs. Shane figured he had no choice, so he was going to have to fight his father. Fighting him didn't seem to be the problem, ending the fight was another thing. So Shane took his sword and he went out of the room and he started down the stairs and he ran into Silas on his way down. Shane ignored him and continued walking when he got an idea, he went back over to Silas and pulled on his ear and Silas screamed. Then Shane let go of his ear and he turned back around and left.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"For luck," Shane replied.

* * *

Kronos came to with a splitting headache and his entire body felt like he'd been blown up, he saw Shane standing over him.

"What happened?" Kronos asked.

"I tried to warn you…the reason I don't practice with anyone too much is I don't really need it…and usually when I fight I have very little trouble winning…I got worried that I was going to kill you, so I aimed lower…"

"Exactly how much lower?" Kronos asked.

Shane pointed towards Kronos' abdomen, looking down he remembered the final blow before the wound did him in.

"So it would seem I underestimated you…"

"Uh…" Shane thought, "true?"

"So now what am I going to do with you?" Kronos asked.

"I don't know," Shane replied, "Daddy, do you need me for something now?"

"No."

"Okay," Shane turned around and left the room.

* * *

"I don't believe it," Silas said when Kronos told him about the practice session.

"I find it hard to believe myself…" Kronos replied, "whoever taught him to fight clearly taught him well."

"Where is he now?" Silas asked.

"I don't know, he went off somewhere else in the hospital about an hour ago," Kronos said.

After a brief silence between the two, their attention was drawn to the echoing noise from somewhere in the hospital. It sounded like someone screaming in excruciating agony, but they couldn't figure out what it was. Leaving Kronos' room, they soon found out what the noise was as they saw Shane coming up the stairs with Caspian draped over his shoulder, while the palm of Shane's hand came into hard contact with the seat of Caspian's pants.

"Bad, bad, BAD boy," Shane said as he continued to spank him.

Neither Kronos nor Silas could look on at the sight with a straight face, Silas fell to the floor and Kronos fell against the wall laughing. After a minute, Kronos recollected himself and after a few tries he was able to ask with a straight face, "what happened?"

Shane put Caspian down and while he went over to Kronos, Caspian jumped down the stairs and disappeared.

"Caspian and I got in a fight, I took off my shoes and Caspian said 'put those damn things back on', and I said 'no I don't want to' and he said 'put them on' and I said 'no', and he came charging at me and he missed me…and the wall jumped at him and hit him…so he fell on the floor and when he got up he started swinging at me…but he missed again and he fell over the banister and he fell down five stories…"

Kronos and Silas interrupted Shane's story howling in laughter, and Silas also started banging his head against the floor.

"Then when he came back up the stairs he came at me again…and he missed me again…"

"And he hit the wall again, right?" Kronos asked.

"No," Shane replied.

"Oh."

"It was the window…and then when he got back from that, he came up again and he came at me again, and he hit the wall again…"

"Then what?"

"Then he started talking like Mommy used to do."

"And what'd you do?" Kronos asked.

"I couldn't do anything with Mommy," Shane replied, "but then Caspian started kicking the wall and having a tantrum, like the chickens."

"Chickens?" Kronos asked.

"The neighbor lady has these chickens that come over and when they're bad, I spank them…so when Caspian did that, I spanked him too," Shane explained.

Shane's story left Kronos and Silas like a couple of hyenas for the rest of the afternoon. After thins had quieted down, Kronos and Shane went back to his room and Silas went to see what had become of Caspian. He found him in his room, having another staring contest with a skull.

"And how are you?" he asked.

"Get out!" Caspian hissed.

Silas laughed, "what's the matter? Can't stand being compared to a chicken?"

"That thing must die," Caspian said.

Silas knew well what Caspian was talking about. "And how do you plan to do that? He could've killed Kronos without even trying."

"Then we'll just have to make sure that he's unable to respond," Caspian said.

"What 'we'?" Silas asked.

Caspian laughed bitterly, "don't tell me you're not sick of putting up with that thing."

When Silas didn't answer, Caspian looked at him and said, "well?"

"I'm thinking," Silas replied.

After about a minute, Caspian was tempted to wring Silas' neck if he didn't come to a conclusion soon, but he did. "Allright, I suppose you're right, but how are we going to do that?"

"The next time Kronos leaves with the thing here, we'll get rid of him."

"How? First we have to make sure he's unable to attack, how would you suggest we do that?" Silas asked.

"Poison would work," Caspian said.

"I don't know about that…it might not stay down long enough to work…how about throwing him out the window?"

"I don't know about _that_, he might survive, furthermore he might come out of it with no damage done…we could try hanging him."

"Bad idea," Silas said, "what would you know about making a good noose? If you got it wrong it'd be painful and he'd choke."

"So what? Let him choke," Caspian said.

"Hey!" Silas hissed, "this _is_ Kronos' son we're talking about."

"So what? He's nobody I care for," Caspian said, "I say let him choke."

"How about impaling him on something?" Silas asked.

"Good luck, you've seen how big he is, you think you could do that?" Caspian asked.

"Well we'll have to think of something…killing him is one thing, but what to do prior to that is different," Silas said.

"Yes," Caspian sighed, "unfortunately."

* * *

"Daddy," Shane said.

"Yes?" Kronos stopped making the bed long enough to see what it was Shane wanted.

"I don't think your friends like me very much," Shane said.

Kronos turned and looked at Shane as if he didn't understand what he was saying. "Nonsense, it's just…your arrival here was much of a surprise…for everyone."

"You too?"

"Sort of…for me, the initial surprise was when I found out that you were alive."

Shane laughed, "I guess it would be."

"I wouldn't worry," Kronos replied as he went back to making the bed, "they'll come around."

"Daddy?"

"Yes?" Kronos stopped making the bed.

"Nothing…Daddy?"

Kronos stopped again, "What?"

"Nothing…Daddy?"

Kronos was quickly getting tired of this game, but he decided to go on with it. "Yes?"

"How long have you known them?" Shane asked.

That was a hard question to answer, for one thing, Kronos was so old he couldn't even remember how old he was. Not nearly as old as Methos, that was the only part he could be sure of, and Silas and Caspian, though they weren't too familiar with their actual ages either, were younger than he was. Another thing, he could remember when the Horsemen were put together, but he couldn't recall what year, or for that matter, what century it had been. Then how long was it after that that Methos has poisoned him and put him in a well and the three had gone their own ways? Another good question, how long was he down there until he finally broke out? What century had that been? He didn't know and couldn't think of the answer to save his life, so he answered Shane the best he could. "A very long time."

"Oh…" Kronos thought Shane was satisfied with that answer, but… "How long?"

"I don't know, I honestly don't know how long it's been altogether," Kronos answered.

"That long?" Shane asked.

Kronos tried to keep from laughing, he would've thought Shane was past the point in his life where he asked every question he could about everything and everyone. Clearly he wasn't. "Apparently so."

"Oh…Daddy?"

Now it was starting to wear on Kronos' nerves, of course he wasn't going to tell Shane that, he just gritted his teeth and paid no attention to the twitching in his right eye, he turned towards his son again, "Yes?"

"…Nothing…"

Kronos gave up on the bed for the moment and he turned to face Shane again. "Are you allright, Shane?"

Shane avoided eye contact with him for a while, but eventually he looked over at Kronos and replied, "I'm not sure."

Kronos considered himself a very good judge of people and he'd gotten to the point where he could about tell without fail, whether or not someone was lying to him, and from what he could gather, Shane was being as honest as he knew how.

"You'll feel better after you've slept," Kronos said.

He went back to making the bed and thought it was coming to make sense. Shane was probably still having trouble adapting to his new surroundings, from what Shane had told him the other day, a hospital was one of the last places he would've gone to willingly. That would probably have been enough to make him uneasy, added to the fact that he got the impression he wasn't welcome. He may not have looked like it, but he had some common courtesy to him, and where that came from, Kronos didn't know because Amanda sure didn't have it to her when he knew her. All the same, Shane was the kind of person who figured if he wasn't wanted somewhere, then he wouldn't be there. That was probably getting to him as well. No matter, he'd get everything straightened out in the morning.

As many questions as Shane was asking, Kronos thought it'd be daybreak before he got the bed made again, but he finished, and just when he thought that Shane was done for the night with his questions.

"Daddy?"

Kronos was about to ask 'what now?', but he figured out what it was that Shane wanted this time, so he tossed a couple of the pillows from the bed down to the floor where Shane was going to be sleeping. Why he would prefer being rolled up in a ball on the floor like a dog, instead of being in a bed that was actually long enough for him, Kronos didn't know, but he wasn't going to push it either. He figured as long as Shane was comfortable with it, that's all that mattered.

"Goodnight, Shane."

"Goodnight."

* * *

Methos woke up with vague but enough recollections of last night to know to check on Richie. He rolled out of bed and slid right across the hall and into their room and saw Richie asleep with Amber right beside him, holding onto his wrist. Methos went to get a closer look to make sure nothing had happened again, and as he was kneeling down to check, he had the sudden feeling he was being watched. Looking up, he saw two bright blue eyes attempting to stare a hole through his forehead. "Getting personal, ain't ya?" Richie asked.

"Are you allright?" he asked.

"Oh, I'll be fine as soon as I lose about 150 pounds of protection," Richie turned around best he could and hinted at Amber.

"So nothing else happened?" Methos asked.

"Nope, nothing I know of, and if anything did, I think I'd know," Richie replied.

Richie tried to sit up and in doing so, ending up knocking Amber in the jaw to get his arm loose from her grip. That woke her up and she was checking Richie to also make sure nothing had happened.

"Looks like we got lucky," she said.

"This time, but what about tonight?" Methos asked.

"Look, I don't know how to explain what did happen, but maybe it won't anymore," Richie said, desperate to get past this.

"But what if it does?" Methos asked, "and what if you don't wake up in time next time?"

"I hate to say it, but he's right," Amber said, "Richie, it's your life you're playing with here, and you're not going to take it seriously?"

"What can I do?" he asked, "I mean, there's no way to tell if it happens again, if something's happening to me until the blood comes."

"And by then it may be too late," Methos added.

Amber turned around and looked at Methos, Richie noticed what she was doing so he looked too, wondering what they were looking at, or for.

"Something I can help you with?" Methos asked, not appreciating the four eyes locked on him.

"Could you do it, too?" Amber asked.

"Do what?"

"Go into the dream like he did," Amber said, "if Silas were to see you, that'd draw his attention away from Richie."

"But what if he killed Methos instead of me?" Richie asked.

"No, Richie…she may have something there…if Caspian couldn't see you, he probably wouldn't see me either, and Silas…he and I are closer than I ever was to Kronos, or even Silas to Caspian. He's the one who's least likely to try and kill me."

"But could you do it?" Richie asked.

Methos shrugged, "I don't know, I never tried."

"Neither did I but it happened to me," Richie said.

"It would make sense," Amber said, "you two are family, if anybody could do it besides Richie, it has to be you."

"We'll just have to see about that," Methos replied.

"I still don't think we have anything to worry about," Richie said, "…I mean, it happened once…and then the rest of the night passed with no problem…so maybe…" Every time Richie paused, it was because Amber was poking him in the back and he was waiting for it to pass, but she persistently kept doing it, until finally he jerked around and demanded to know what she was doing.

"Is there a hospital near the cemetery?" Amber asked.

"What?" Methos and Richie asked, not getting the connection.

"You said they were in a hospital, right?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"Do you think it's near the cemetery?"

"Why?"

"Because the cemetery is right near Shane's home, and his mother is buried on the property at his house, and Shane's never been more than a few miles away from his mother at the most…I can't imagine he'd change that now, not even for his father."

"You know the place better than I do, you tell me," Richie said.

"I never paid attention to hospitals, I don't know."

"We'll figure something out later, it's too early in the morning to start worrying now," Methos said.

"That's a hell of a way to talk," Amber said, "considering you know that son of a bitch personally."

"Yes I do, and if there's one thing I know about Kronos, he doesn't just rush into things…he may have counted on me for the plans, but he knew full well what to do by himself…he is not an idiot."

"That remains to be proven," Richie said, "if he had a brain to him he would've left Shane alone."

* * *

Kronos woke up and found Shane on the floor beside the bed, he was sleeping on his back with his hands and feet in the air, reminding him more and more everyday of a dog. He heard Shane whimpering and saw the reason why, he was scratching like a dog, and if it were fleas he was scratching at…

Kronos didn't get a chance to finish the thought, Shane woke up when he finished scratching and looked up. "Hi Daddy!"

"Hello Shane," Kronos replied as he sat up in the bed, "did you sleep well?"

"Eh, for a while," Shane answered, "although, at some point I dreamt I was chasing a truck, and now I'm exhausted…"

Kronos laughed lightly, still not fully awake, maybe that would make what he had to ask Shane easier. "Shane?"

"Yeah?" he asked as he rolled over.

"Do you think that your mother would mind if I paid her another visit?" Kronos asked.

"I think she'd mind it more if you didn't," Shane replied as he got to his feet.

Kronos didn't say anything in response but grunted in understanding. He kicked back the sheets and got out of bed. "I think later today I'll go see her."

"You want me to come too?" Shane asked.

"Thanks, Shane, but I think I should go alone this time. What I have to say to your mother, I'd rather it be kept between me and her, understand?"

"Oh sure." Kronos could tell Shane wasn't just saying that to spare his feeling, "I understand perfectly, and I'm sure Mommy would too, although…truth be known she had no problem saying anything to anybody, and didn't worry about anyone else hearing her."

Kronos laughed, "that's the Amanda I remember…and I suppose she got better at it during motherhood."

"I don't know," Shane said, "all I know is that she could talk till sailors were horrified, and if that's not bad, I don't know what is."

Kronos laughed until he couldn't breathe, what he remembered of Amanda, certainly paled in comparison to how Shane could describe her. Another reason he'd kick himself until the day he died for leaving her, he had no idea of what he'd given up. Of course, there'd be plenty of time to tell her that when he went to the grave. Kronos hoped that Shane wouldn't be expecting him back anytime soon, as much as he had to tell Amanda, he could be at the grave until dark.


	11. Chapter 11

Kronos left later in the morning advising Shane that he probably wouldn't be back until late. Shane said he understood, anyone who had to talk to his mother always had plenty to talk to her about. Before he left, Kronos advised him not to get too close to Caspian or Silas since they didn't need a repeat of the last time Kronos left. Shane agreed to stay away from them as much as he could if he could, and with that, Kronos was on his way.

After he'd gone, Shane decided to go around the hospital and he figured if it came about that it'd be allright to be near Silas and Caspian providing he didn't stay around them for too long. Right now they were up on the next floor so he decided to head on down to the floor below and see what was…or rather used to go on down there. Of course, Shane's mind worked in a simple manner and he could be very trusting and forgetting, so he would never assume that Caspian and Silas were planning his death. They on the other hand, were wracking their brains trying to think of the perfect way to do him in temporarily so they could behead him with no trouble, and then dispose of the body before Kronos returned. They knew that would be the safest bet since Kronos could very easily have lost his own head to Shane the day before during practice. Their problem was once again deciding on which method to use.

"How about if we stab him?" Silas suggested.

"And how many times would it take before he dies?" Caspian asked, "how about an electric shock? The wiring in this blasted place is certainly loose enough…"

Silas shook his head, "it might not be enough to kill him."

"You got any better ideas?" Caspian asked.

"How about you bite him and see if the rabies kill him?" Silas suggested.

He heard Caspian growl, but after 2,000 years knew that until he actually pounced, it was nothing to pay attention to.

"I still say we hang him," Caspian said.

"Good luck," Silas said, "how would you get him high enough to the noose? He's 7 feet tall as it is…and think of how much he must weigh, even if you could hang him, that might behead him right then and there."

Caspian didn't want that, he wanted to be able to take Shane's head himself, he wanted the honor of accomplishing that more than just about anything right now.

"So what do we do?" he asked.

They'd gone through a fine line of options, all of which they decided wouldn't work, poisoning him, hanging him, stabbing him, blowing him into Swiss cheese, burning him alive, making him fall out of a window on one of the upper floors, and with every idea, there was something to shoot it down. So now Silas tried to think of something else, and Caspian realized that that was a mistake.

"A fine thing, if I wait for you to think of something…to think of anything at all, we'll be stuck here until the end of time," Caspian told him.

Silas rose from his seat at the table, and ignoring Kronos' comment from years past, picked up his axe and swung at Caspian, but he missed, and Caspian got his sword and the two went at each other. While they were going at each other's throats up there, Shane was down on another floor looking through all the rooms. The hospital clearly hadn't had any professional use in quite some time, a lot of the lights didn't work, the paint was peeling off the walls, cobwebs filled whole rooms, and a lot of the equipment in some of the rooms looked like it didn't work anymore.

There were no names on the doors so it was practically impossible to tell which room was the ER and which was the OR, and which were patient rooms and which were for x-rays and brain scans. He came across one room where the lights still worked, and he guessed had to have been a maternity ward at some point, there were still a few bassinets and incubators in the room. Over in a dark corner of the room, Shane saw something and went to confirm his suspicions, yes, it was an old baby buggy, very much like the one his mother used to keep him in.

These days he didn't see too many of them around anymore, but then again most women with their children who saw him would immediately turn around and go the other way. But he remembered full well when he used to fit in one of them and his mother would grab the handle and shake it and give him the thrill of his short life. Then he thought of how funny it would be if he could find someone to shake in this buggy, but where was he going to get a baby? It was around that time he heard something from a floor above, followed by someone falling down the stairs, when he went out into the hall he found Caspian lying on the floor.

"Well," Shane said, "you're not a baby but you'll do."

Actually Caspian could be very much of a baby when he wanted to be, but Shane didn't tell him that. He scraped Caspian up off the floor and dropped him in the buggy, perhaps fortunately for Shane, Caspian had taken such a beating from the fight he didn't even have the strength currently to spit, let alone get himself out of the buggy. If he'd been able to do that, he probably would've tried ripping Shane apart limb by limb with his bare hands, but Shane was none the wiser to their sinister plans, and he went about shaking Caspian in the buggy like his mother used to do with him many times so many years ago.

* * *

"They're still not up?" Duncan asked.

Methos shook his head, "Richie is still trying to find out where that hospital is, and Amber won't leave him alone in case he doesn't wake up again."

"Methos, do you really think Richie was there?" Amanda asked, "like an out of body experience?"

"He must've," Methos replied, "there could be no other explanation for what happened the other night."

"This whole thing is like a nightmare," Amanda said, "I wish it was over."

"We all do," Duncan replied.

"Can you two hold down the fort while I'm gone?" Methos asked.

"Where're you going?" Duncan asked.

"If what Amber said was true and Shane wouldn't go far from the cemetery, then there must be a hospital nearby down there, I'm going to see what I can find," he said.

"Methos, that could be dangerous!" Amanda said.

"Please, I'm over 5,000 years old, I've been in about every single dangerous position one can face in their life, and still I'm here," he said.

"What if Kronos finds you?" Duncan asked.

"Let him, Shane wouldn't let him kill me, and Kronos isn't going to want to upset his son," Methos said.

"How can you be so sure?" Duncan asked.

"Because, MacLeod, when your son is twice your size and three times as deadly, you don't want to make him mad," Methos told him.

* * *

Silas hadn't seen Caspian since their fight ended with him falling down the stairs to the next floor, and as much as he'd love to see Caspian dead, he still went to make sure he was alive. He found him, but it sure wasn't as he expected to, he found he and Shane in the maternity ward, and Caspian was currently borderline unconscious while Shane shook him in a baby's buggy and singing badly.

"Rock a bye baby in the treetop, when the wind blows the cradle will rock, when the bough breaks the cradle will fall, and down will come baby, cradle and all…" Shane rattled the handle of the buggy, shaking the whole thing a few more times before he looked at Caspian. "You suck," he said and he tilted the buggy and threw Caspian on the floor.

That was enough to bring Caspian back to the land of the living, and as soon as he quit seeing things with double vision, he was fuming. He ran charging at Shane, but he missed and wound up going out of the window again, and no sooner had he hit the solid ground, Shane was about to fall down laughing. "That's the third time he's done that!"

Silas looked out the window and saw Caspian's broken body among all the shattered glass and knew that when he got back up there, he was not going to be pleased. Sure enough, 20 minutes later Caspian had recovered and he got back up to the same floor and he was fuming. By that time Shane was gone back up to Kronos' room, and Silas had to keep jerking Caspian back to keep him from charging up the stairs after him.

"That is the straw that broke my back!" Caspian shrieked.

"Allright…so how do we do this?" Silas asked.

Caspian thought about it for a minute…they weren't planning the perfect murder, just a…what did Methos call it? A prelude to Shane's death, not perfect, certainly, but good enough that they would have no trouble whatsoever.

"I've got an idea."

After explaining what would have to be done, Caspian and Silas got their weapons of choice and headed upstairs. They found Shane in Kronos' room, moving about the room in a most unusual manner, and once again, singing badly.

"I'll tell me ma when I go home, the boys won't leave the girls alone, they pull my hair and it's on my comb, but that's allright 'till I go home…"

"It's a wonder Kronos hasn't killed him yet, it would be easy," Caspian thought.

"That's what you think," Silas told him.

It was at that time that Shane turned around and found he had company.

"Hi guys!" he called, "will you play with me? I'm fun, would you play with me?"

For a minute Silas and Caspian just looked at each other, they weren't sure what to make of it. Finally Caspian answered, "sure, kid, whatever you say."

"Oh good!" Shane replied, "I know just what we'll do…"

* * *

It had taken some effort, but Duncan had finally gotten Richie and Amber out of bed and up and around, but both of them could've very easily gone right back to sleep, they looked like hell, and felt more or less the same.

"So now Methos has gone out to find them, what if he doesn't come back?" Richie asked.

"Richie, don't talk like that," Amber told him.

"He's the only family I have left," he said.

"Then what does that make the rest of us, chopped liver?" she asked.

"I'm sorry…but you know what I mean…he's the last living member of my real family."

"Even if it is just through marriage," Amber added, "come on, let's go."

"Go where?" Richie asked.

"Outside, I want to see Methos when he gets back," she told him.

Richie couldn't argue with that, so they headed out and dropped on the porch steps. As soon as they got out, they saw that the weather could very quickly take a turn for the worse.

"Looks like rain," Richie said.

"I just hope the sky doesn't turn red tonight, or then we'll really be in for it," Amber said.

"Now there's something I've wondered about," Richie said, "the saying is, 'red sky in the morning, sailor's warning, red sky at night, sailor's delight', doesn't red sky ever come around in the afternoon?"

"Beats me."

Shortly after that, they saw Methos' car coming up the road and they both jumped off the porch and ran over to him when he got parked. They bombarded him with questions, most regarding his well being.

"I have good news and bad news," Methos said.

"What's the bad news?" Richie asked.

"First, there is no hospital anywhere even remotely near that damn cemetery, and when I went back to the cemetery, the tire tracks from the ambulance were gone."

"So what's the good news?" Amber asked.

"The caretaker from the cemetery said that he saw Shane at the cemetery yesterday with another man…"

"Kronos!"

"That's my guess…he didn't stick around long enough to see where they went, but that means that Shane's still alive."

"That was yesterday, what happens today?" Richie asked.

"If they were going to kill him, they wouldn't have waited until now," Methos said, "they're not the patient types."

"Especially Kronos?" Richie asked.

"He's right up there," Methos said, "it's a tie between he and Silas as to who's the most patient, which isn't saying much…apparently they were patient enough however, to make sure nobody finds them out. And I'm sorry to say that even I couldn't find anymore than that."

"But you're allright aside from that, right?" Richie asked.

"Well of course I'm…oh…you were worried about me?"

"What do you take me for, Methos? Of course I was, you're my family!"

"Besides, truth be known, something happen to you, and he's going to spend the rest of his days driving us to insanity," Amber added.

"Oh, I see…don't worry Richie, I'm not going anywhere…after 5,000 years you get to become very attached to living."

"Good."

"I'm just sorry I couldn't find out more than I did."

"We'll figure something out," Richie said.

"I hope you're right, Richie…I hope you're right."

* * *

Silas sat back and laughed as he watched Shane dance around Caspian, whom he had covered in gauze and adhesive tape, and was currently using as a maypole. Every time he went around Caspian he applied another layer, and he'd already gotten him wrapped up in so many he looked like a mummy. As soon as Shane had finished, he fell down on the floor beside him, and when he managed to get to his feet again, he asked Caspian what he wanted to do next, but Caspian's reply was muffled by the gauze.

"What?" Shane pulled the gauze back to hear him.

"GET ME OUT OF HERE!"

"Okay, hold on," Shane unwound about a yard of the gauze, wrapped it around his hand and jerked on the rest to unwind it. Caspian spun like a top once, twice, and fell on the floor as the rest of the bandages spun off of him.

"What do you want to play now?" Shane asked.

Caspian's response was slurred and incoherent, but Shane interpreted it to something of his own understanding. So after Caspian managed to roll on his side, Shane picked him up and played him like an airplane, needless to say that Caspian was not pleased, Silas on the other hand seemed to be having the time of his life watching the whole thing. Shane was making quick, sharp turns and sounding like a pilot on the speakers.

"747 taking off…747 gliding through the air…uh oh! Uh oh! Oil pressure's low, the engine just exploded, we're gonna crash!"

And Shane all but dropped Caspian to the floor, all the same, Caspian wound up cracking his head against the sharp linoleum. Shane once again fell to the floor laughing at all the fun he was having.

"That does it," Caspian muttered as he sat up, "that does it! We're going to play a new game."

"Oh boy, which one?" Shane asked.

"Do you know the dead man's dive?" Caspian asked.

"No, what is it?" Shane asked.

An evil grin found its way to Caspian's mouth. "It's easy, first you head out to the ocean and…"

"Oh no, no, no, no," Shane laughed, "no I'm afraid I can't do that."

"Why not?" Silas asked.

"I don't go near the water too much, I swim very poorly," Shane said.

That gave Caspian anothergreat idea.

* * *

"The wind's picking up," Amanda said, "I don't think you guys should head out again."

"That's fine with me," Duncan said, "I've been going all over the place looking for a hospital that's been out of use…I searched the entire damn afternoon, and my feet are killing me."

"It just doesn't make sense, where could they have gone?" Amanda asked.

"Clearly not too far away if Kronos and Shane could make a trip back to the cemetery," Methos said.

"But far enough away that we can't find them," Richie added.

"Yes…unfortunately."

"If the wind's blowing so hard, then why is it still so damn hot?" Amber asked.

"What?"

"I got a feeling we're in for a worse storm tonight than we think," she said.

"What, you mean like a hurricane?" Amanda asked.

"I don't know…all I know is that when the wind's blowing hard enough to blow the lawn furniture away, there comes a breeze with it, there's no breeze now."

"Are you serious?" Methos asked.

"If you don't believe me, just come to the window."

Methos did, and looked towards the sky. "Something's definitely coming this way, although what it is, I don't know."

"Fine thing," Amber said, "we're in for a storm, and since we're living in Florida, there's no basement."

"Even if we had one I doubt it'd do us much good," Methos said, "I remember one time during a storm we almost drowned in the cellar."

"When was that?" Richie asked.

"A long time ago," he said, "probably…the summer of '25 I believe."

"1925?" Duncan asked, feeling a bit humorous to lighten the mood.

"No, MacLeod, 1625…of course 1925 you moron…try to discuss history with kids…"

"What happened?" Richie asked.

"Huh?"

"What happened in the cellar?" Richie asked.

"Picture it, a hot July afternoon, 1925 on a farmland long forgotten back in the long since extinct town of Little Falls, Kansas…"

"I never heard of that place," Richie said.

"Me either," Amber added.

"And you never will again…it was so small that nobody ever bothered to record it for history, or geography…and I mean nobody."

"So what happened?" Richie asked.

Methos sighed, "well it wasn't one of the more glamorous parts of my life, I was a thief at the time."

"What's wrong with that?" Amanda asked as she took a drink of wine, "we've all done that."

"A pig thief?" Methos asked.

Amanda choked on her wine and almost drowned between the wine and her laughing. Methos had expected that, but still, he turned to Duncan and gave him a look that said 'you're dead'. "One sound out of you, Duncan MacLeod, one syllable, and I'll gut you and turn you into a suitcase."

"So what happened?" Amber asked.

"Well…one slip and I'm looking down the business end of a shotgun…and the lady there gives me a choice, she says 'either you work on the farm to pay off the damage you've done…or I'm going to get me a new hunting trophy'. So come 5 in the morning the next day I'm out there being an ass."

"Anymore than usual?" Duncan asked.

"What were you doing?" Amanda asked.

"Plowing the dirt."

"I thought they had a horse plow the dirt," Richie said.

"Ordinarily yes, but the horse was pregnant, and every time someone tried to touch her she'd kick them in the gut, so they had the jackass do it," Methos said, "and that is even less glamorous…you try having a plow hooked up to you and having to trudge on all fours through dry hot dirt."

When the laughing died down, he continued, "anyway…it got really hot that week and Keith and Terry and Boone…"

"Who're they?" Amber asked.

"Mrs. Manning's grandchildren."

"Who's Mrs. Manning?" Amanda asked.

"The dear old woman who put the barrels of a shotgun to my nose for trying to steal her prized pig, Bridget."

And it was then that Methos realized he was never going to get through a line of this story on a serious note.

* * *

It wasn't time for the day to turn to night yet, but the sun was starting to set and it was turning the sky many different colors, a light red seeming to be the one mostly there. Kronos had just finished saying his goodbyes to Amanda, although he felt that as long as he lived, he'd never truly be done saying goodbye to her. He'd spent a good part of the day talking to her, wondering whether or not she had listened to him. In life, Amanda had a way of tuning out anything and just about everything she didn't want to hear, he wouldn't imagine death changed that.

He'd told her about everything that had happened since he left her, even the Horsemen. She would have liked Silas for the most of it, but Caspian they could've just painted a bull's eye on him and let her charge head on. He would've laughed at the idea, but it'd been a long day and he'd spent most of it talking to a woman he would've ripped out his own heart for, and talking to her was more exhausting than any battle he'd ever been in. All he wanted to do now was to get back to the hospital and tell Shane how everything had gone, and find out just what he'd done all day.

As soon as he'd gotten back to the hospital grounds, he was dead tired and was taking his sword out just to relieve some of the weight he'd been carrying when he noticed something. The setting sunlight was about enough to blind him, but beyond the light he saw something…no, somebody…two some bodies…Silas and Shane, and from the looks of it, something had happened. Kronos dropped his sword and dashed over to them to see what was the matter.

"What's happened?" he asked.

He got his answer just by looking at Shane, he was soaked to the bone and shaking, and avoiding eye contact with either of them.

"Well is one of you going to tell me what happened?" he glanced from one to the next, and when he realized Shane was in no condition to explain much of anything, he turned to Silas. "Well?"

"I found him out in the ocean, not far from the shore, but far enough that he was sinking in the water…got him out just in time."

"What?" Kronos wasn't sure just what was going on.

"He would've drowned if I hadn't gone in after him…he couldn't swim to the shore."

Kronos turned to Shane, "what were you doing out there?"

Shane shook his head and looked down so not to make any eye contact. "I don't know…I don't remember how I got out there…I woke up and I…I panicked…" he was shaking even harder now. "Daddy, can I go in now? I'm so cold."

All the while Kronos had been listening to Shane, through the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of Caspian, and an idea came to mind. Without missing a beat, he answered, "Yes…Silas, take him in, I'll be there in a minute."

He turned away from them and locked his eyes on Caspian, and it was a look that thousands of years ago he came to know, and Caspian still knew what it meant, don't move. Once Silas had escorted Shane into the hospital, Kronos all but jumped over to Caspian and he grabbed him by the throat.

"I always knew you were one sick bastard, Caspian, but I never thought you'd prove to be this demented," after he'd finished choking Caspian just short of unconscious, he let go of his throat and clocked him in the jaw, sending him to the ground. But that wouldn't do, so Kronos approached him and jerked him to his feet again. "You know damn well as much as I do that if Shane couldn't swim he would've found that out long before now…and the only people who possibly could have gotten him out to the ocean are you and Silas. Which means either you talked him in to helping you and then he changed his mind, or you planned this one yourself, both of which I hope for you sake, aren't the case."

However, Caspian had been threatened with death enough times that it didn't scare him. "Why would I want to kill him?" he asked, feigning innocence.

"I'm sure I don't know, but when I find out, and I WILL find out…you're as good as dead."

It wasn't anything he hadn't heard before, besides, Caspian remembered what Kronos said a long time ago, 'we never raise a blade to each other'.

With that, Kronos followed in behind them to see what became of Shane. Silas told him he'd gone to take a hot shower to warm up, Kronos headed to the room and stopped when he saw the steam emerging and heard Shane singing, he decided it would be best not to just barge in on him. He rapped on the door a couple of times and waited, nothing, so he knocked louder and called, "Shane?"

"Daddy?"

"Are you decent?"

"No."

Oh well, Kronos decided it wouldn't be anything he hadn't seen before, so he headed in. He didn't know what kind of hospital this used to be, but whatever kind it was, they must have had Andre the Giant or someone similar to his build stay there, the showers were just high enough that Shane didn't have to huddle under the shower head.

"Hi Daddy!"

"Hello, Shane, how're you doing?"

"Oh I'm feeling better."

"Good…listen, Shane, I don't quite know how you got out to the ocean, but I have a pretty good idea you won't have to worry about it happening again," Kronos told him.

"Oh good…Daddy?"

"Yes?"

"Are you ashamed of me?"

Kronos couldn't believe what he'd heard. "What?"

"Are you ashamed of me?"

Kronos thought it had to be some twisted joke, but looking at Shane, he was truly at a loss. He tried to look in Shane's eyes and try to find just what was behind the question, all he saw was pure curiosity, and if he didn't now any better, a trace of fear.

"What ever for?" he asked.

Shane shrugged his shoulders, "because I'm not like you, and I can't be…we saw a fine example of that just a few minutes ago."

Kronos felt like he'd been knocked for a loop. "What? You think just because…and you…" he started laughing, "why do you think that I would be…because I don't…well who…who do you think you got that from?"

"You?" Shane seemed surprised at that.

"Well you didn't get it from your mother, I know that for sure…to this day I don't know how, but I wound up wrapped up in World War I as a frog man, a good thing too because I quickly sank and when I was finally fished out, the war was over and I went on my way."

"That's a relief, for a while there I was worried that…"

Kronos didn't give him a chance to continue, "you listen to me, Shane and you listen good, I don't care if you can't swim, I don't care what you can't do because it doesn't matter, you hear me?"

Shane shook his head, "you couldn't mean that…I'll never be like you, Daddy…I can't, I don't enjoy killing, I don't kill an Immortal if I can find a way out of it," he laughed humorlessly at it, "what a way for you son to turn out, eh? And as good a fighter as I am."

Kronos didn't seem to care, "you have to understand, when I learned everything I did to survive, that was over 4,000 years ago, back then it was kill or be killed…you haven't had to grow up and live in that atmosphere, thank God if there is one."

"There is," Shane muttered, but he wasn't sure Kronos heard him.

"Maybe it's better that you're not like me," Kronos replied, "I don't know how your mother would've liked that."

"She didn't know what you were," Shane said.

"When she was alive, no, but now…" for a minute he seemed at a loss for words, "different people have different ideas of how things work in the afterlife, by now, who knows what she knows about me, what I am, what I was…and what must she think of that?"

"Do you remember who you're talking about?" Shane asked, "you know what Mommy was like, she was no saint either, you know that, Daddy…not that I loved her any less, she was the best."

"Apparently so," Kronos replied, "well Shane, maybe you didn't turn out like me, but I think what you got from your mother more than makes up for that…so far you've managed to get through 23 years as you are just fine."

Shane liked the sound of that, even though he knew it just wasn't true, but Kronos would learn that in due time.


	12. Chapter 12

For the 4th time in 10 minutes, lightning filled the sky, and Amanda was keeping count.

"That storm's moving closer," Amanda said.

"Well so far all we've seen is the lightning," Duncan replied.

"Duncan, I have seen many nights like this…and it never _just_ has lightning…you'll see, soon the thunder will be booming, and the rain will coming pouring down."

"Fortunately we're on a hill."

"Yeah…but how well's that storm going to go over with those three in there?" Amanda pointed back to the living room.

"That's something I don't know."

Throughout the afternoon and into the night, Methos had been occupying Richie and Amber's minds with stories from some of the storms he was in over 70 years ago, while they laid on the couch at either side of him.

"Then once the storm blew over, we came out of the storm cellar and found that the tornado had blown away almost everything."

"Like what?" Richie asked.

"It blew all the plants out of the garden, it blew the roof off the house…hell, it stole the clothes off the scarecrows…after that, the birds weren't afraid of them anymore, instead they'd land in the yard and they'd look at the scarecrows, and if birds can laugh," Methos paused, "those birds would've wet themselves."

"So what happened the next summer?" Amber asked.

"Again? I've been telling more stories today than Hans Christian Anderson did in his whole life," Methos complained.

"Ah humor us, Methos…it's either that, or we're all wearing a hole in the floor," Richie told him.

"And since we have no basement that wouldn't be too pleasant to go through it," Methos said, "allright…let's see, the summer of 1927…ah…well actually I was in the city in the beginning."

"Which city?" Amber asked.

"Brooklyn, so…"

"What were you doing in Brooklyn?" Amber asked.

"Getting out of Queens…anyway…"

"What happened in Queens?" Richie asked.

"I was being chased by the police…anyhow…"

"What'd you do?" they asked.

"Do you want me to tell the story or not?" Methos asked.

"Sorry…"

"Anyway…uh…they were after me for stealing laundry, and…"

"Hey!" Amber cut in, "that's how Billy the Kid started as a criminal."

"Correct…only he didn't have that name until a newspaper used it after a killing," Methos said, "he had several aliases, and he…"

"Wait a minute," Richie said, "you knew him too?"

"Oh yes…we rode together temporarily."

"Now you're getting off subject here," Amber said.

"You'd rather hear about him being a laundry thief, or him riding with Billy the Kid?" Richie asked.

"William Bonney."

"What?"

"That was his name…anyway."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Richie said as he got up off the couch.

"That's all I've been doing," Methos replied.

"How do we know that you're telling us the truth here? How do we know you're not just making this all up?" Richie asked as he started pacing.

"Even if I were, so what?" Methos asked, "at least it gives you something to think about besides the damned weather."

"I guess he's got a point, Richie."

"The weather's not problem…it's Kronos and Shane that we're worried about," Richie replied.

"I know, but there's nothing we can do until we find that hospital," Methos said, "and we can't do that until the weather clears up."

There was a silence between them all for the longest time, then finally Richie said, "So tell us about Billy…eh…William," and he laid back down on the couch.

"Well, that was in the summer of 1876…"

* * *

The storm didn't pass them, in fact, after about half an hour, it took root right above Tampa, so the rest of the night was filled with heavy rain, loud thunder and bright lightning. It was especially a problem at the hospital. Thousands of years ago, Kronos knew that surviving the night anywhere would depend on how light a sleep he was, and in several thousand years, that hadn't changed too much. Any sound even slightly loud woke him up, and with the storm taking place right outside, he soon came to the conclusion that he could just forget about getting any sleep. As he got himself up in the bed, he couldn't help but wonder why Shane hadn't said anything.

"Shane, can't you hear that racket?" when he got no answer, he looked down by the foot of the bed, it was too dark to see anything. Lightning lit up the room a moment later and Kronos realized Shane was gone, however he was still on the same floor, so Kronos jumped to his feet and took off to look for him. However, he was going to fast to notice the big bump in the floor right outside of his room and he tripped over Shane for the second time, and wound up hitting the wall head on.

That boy is worse than any dog I ever knew, Kronos thought. As he got himself out of the pretzel he'd formed when he tripped, he rolled back over to Shane to see why he'd left the room again.

"Allright, Shane…what're you doing out here this time?" he asked.

However, once he returned to where Shane lay, he realized something was wrong. Shane was lying on his side in something similar to a fetal position and he was shaking vigorously. At first, Kronos wasn't sure, but when he heard the muffled gasps and moans, he knew that Shane was crying, and he found himself at a loss. For one thing he had no idea how to approach Shane and find out what was wrong…for another thing, he wasn't sure Shane would even tell him what was wrong…and another he already regretted what he was going to hear, it didn't matter what it was, he didn't want to hear it. But he knew he had to, so then he decided just how to do this without putting his foot in his mouth. This was one thing that he had never anticipated as being a problem in all his life, but as he'd been finding out, there was a first time for everything.

He laid down right behind Shane and first put one hand on his shoulder, then when Shane didn't do anything to move, he reached up with the other and started to stroke the back of Shane's head, once again, he didn't try to move away, so Kronos figured so far so good, then came the hard part, actually bringing himself to talk and hoping that whatever he said it didn't come out wrong. That was always the hard part in a situation like this, even if it was someone who had lived over 4,000 years with no regrets.

"Shane…" he'd managed to get slightly above a whisper so Shane would hear him, but it wouldn't draw the attention of Silas or Caspian. That was the last thing they needed right now. "Shane…what's the matter?"

Shane drew in a breath and let out a choked sob all at the same time, lightning lit up the room and Kronos could see the real mess that he'd become in such a short amount of time. "I miss Mommy," he managed to answer.

And that had been exactly what he was afraid he was going to hear. It was hard enough on him having left her after only one month and then lost her for good, but he couldn't imagine how it must've been for Shane, to know the woman all his life, and then one day have her taken from him. That brought him to another question, and as much as he hated it, and what it might do to Shane, he had to ask. He remembered Shane telling him that Amanda had been murdered, but he didn't go into any details other than she was going to be cremated immediately to cover it up.

"Shane…I need to know…how did your mother die?" There, he'd said it, now he was waiting for Shane to fall apart completely.

Shane tried to explain, but in between crying and gasping for air, he had plenty of trouble trying to talk.

Kronos patted him on the back and was thankful that he was in the dark, and behind Shane so he couldn't see the mess it was making him, seeing his son like this.

"I'm sorry to do this to you, Shane, but I have to know…" he told him.

After a minute, Shane seemed to be able to control himself a bit, and he started to talk. "It was storming just like tonight when it happened…she'd been gone since 5 that afternoon…I was on the porch waiting for her like I always did when she was late…"

Already Kronos could tell that before Shane was through telling this tragic story, he was going to have a growing urge to find the people responsible and rip through their chests and tear their hearts out.

* * *

The storm had been going on for about two hours now, and all the time it seemed to get worse. Shane was worried because he knew his mother was a good driver, but he also knew that she tended to rush when she was late, which she was, and that mixed with roads that could be washed out at any time could mostly likely take a turn for the worst.

His mother said she'd be back around 7, it was now going on 9 and he hadn't seen anything of her. Finally the suspense became too much for him and he decided he would have to go out and look for her, just as he turned for the front door, he heard a truck coming up the street.

Once he saw past the blinding headlights, he recognized the pickup truck, and he thanked God that she was home safe. He went down to the driveway to meet her, watching his step along the way, the sidewalks had already become like rivers. However he realized that something was wrong, she slammed the door harder than usual on her way out and she was talking in another language, she only did that when she didn't want Shane to know what she was saying. And considering she rarely got through a day without swearing like a sailor, he knew that whatever it was, it had to be bad.

"Mama?"

"Oh Shane," she said as she came around the front of the truck, her voice a mixture between bitter and relieved, "come here, I'm so glad to see you."

She reached Shane and locked her arms around him and buried her face in his chest and just screamed, and Shane knew there was trouble by the way she screamed. It wasn't really a sound you'd expect from a woman to make, it was just a raw, hoarse scream that just seemed to erupt from her throat.

"What happened?" Shane asked.

She pulled away from him to talk. "Those bastards…they want to have us investigated…they think we're not fit to live in their society…well, we'll show them."

She tore away from him and ran up the porch steps and into the house with him following close behind.

"I don't get it, why are you so late?" he asked, "was it because of the storm?"

"The storm? My dear son, you should know by now that a little weather never stopped me. No, those sons of bitches, damn them all…they tried to stop me from getting up here…they thought they could get to you before I did…well I'll show them…nobody, mark my words but nobody is going to take my son away from me. They try and they'll go down swinging."

"They want me?" Shane asked.

"You, me, they won't be happy until they have us both…but they know if they get to you first, then I'm an easy target from there."

"I don't get it, what are they doing?" Shane asked.

"What are they doing?" Amanda repeated, "they are doing, my dear boy, what everybody's talked about doing with us since we came here…they want to get rid of us…they don't see us fit to live in their society. They see you as a monster, as a creature who doesn't deserve to breathe the same air as their own children, and they see me as some sinister bitch who'll blow anyone to hell that gets in her way."

"You would," Shane said.

"Yes, but they don't know that…least they shouldn't. I certainly never said a word about it to them. I never talked to them as it is, but they talk their heads off about us. They talk…they say they'll have the FBI on us, and the SRS, welfare and social workers, who knows? They may bring a fucking army with them…least that's what they say, but I know better. They're not going to bring in the authorities until after they have their own way with me, a lynch mob you might say. Well let them try, I'll blow them to Kingdom Come before they even get to our porch. This is our home and they're not going to drive us away from it."

"Should I go watch for them?" Shane asked.

"No…you'll be waiting for nothing."

"They're not coming?" Shane asked.

"Not tonight anyway," she replied, "they want to humiliate us, so they'll do it in morning when everyone's watching. For now, we're safe."

"Do you think they'll bring the police?"

"Police, hell, they could have the police, and the Florida Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Bureau…for all I know, they may even bring in the damned priests!" Amanda exclaimed. "They could have the whole state coming after us…well…let them try."

Amanda could see that she was upsetting her son, so she went over to him and told him in the calmest tone she could manage. "Nothing is going to happen to us, Shane…they can try all they want, and they're not going to get anywhere…and they're certainly not getting anywhere tonight, so don't pay any attention to it."

Those sorts of things it was always easy to say don't pay any attention, but it wasn't easy to do.

"They sent some people to block the roads so I couldn't get through…" she laughed, "they were smart…but not smart enough…fortunately I know a few back roads to this town."

Shane smiled, "you know _every_ road to this town…and every alternative route."

"And I know how to run every other damn driver off the road," she added.

"And that damage is never pretty," Shane said.

"From this side it is," Amanda replied, "put us in a Dodge Charger and get us some bows and flaming arrows, we'd put the Dukes of Hazzard to shame…hey, now there's an idea."

"What?" Shane asked.

"If they do come in the morning, we can get in the car and send them on the wild goose chase of their lives."

"That would be good."

"Good? Hell, they wouldn't know what hit them. We'd have them going all over the place, and at the end of it all, they wouldn't know which direction was which."

Shane had no doubt that his mother could do it either, he'd seen her pull off some pretty amazing stunts while driving. She could especially be persistent when she was dealing with people she despised. After that, the night seemed to go smoothly, there was no more discussion about what the people were going to do. At midnight they went to bed and Shane thought that the trouble was over, but he was wrong.

* * *

Shane woke up at 6 the next morning and found his mother wasn't in bed, or in the house for that matter. It was still dark out due to the continuing thunderstorms, and Shane decided if she was nowhere in the house, then he would have to go out and find her. He pulled out her floodlight and went out looking for her, first he checked the front yard and she wasn't there, then he went around to the back, she wasn't there either. He was coming back around to the front yard when he saw something, even without the floodlight he knew, it was his mother standing out in the middle of the street. She was looking up the next block, and didn't notice the pitch-black car with the headlights turned off coming her way, not until it became loud enough to hear over the rain and the wind and the thunder, and when she turned around…it was too late.

Any capability of speaking, or screaming, Shane lost when he saw the car hit his mother, and he watched her roll off the hood and into the street. The car stopped, and two men got out, Shane went over to them, careful not to fall because he had to get to his mother and fast, but by the time he got to the street, they'd put her in the back of the car and drove off. Shane wanted to run after them but knew he'd fall and probably drown in the water, so he ran over to the pickup truck and dug the spare key out from a tear in the seat, and he followed after them as close as he could without getting caught. He knew that this had all been planned…find her, run her down, and take her body somewhere.

He stayed close to half a block behind them but managed to follow them, and he followed them to the last place he ever thought he'd find his mother…the funeral home.

Staying back a ways, he watched them carry her body in…as soon as they were in, he followed in behind them. He had a good idea of what they were going to do, and they weren't going to if he got a say in it. Following them in, he made sure he was far enough behind not for them to see him…he took a few steps back to guarantee it…all the while he heard them talking.

"_What do you mean you can't do it now?"_

"_Just what I said, we're backed up."_

"_How in the hell can you be backed up?"_

"_Because cremation is becoming a very popular request, and we don't have enough crematory ovens to keep on schedule…you'll have to wait."_

"_How long?"_

"_About an hour."_

"_You got that many more to do?"_

"_Yes…the ceremonies are drawing to a deadline…she can wait."_

Shane looked at the men talking and knew they didn't see him…he also saw that for the time being, they'd put his mother in a coffin with the lid up. The men disappeared into the crematory room, and he got up close to the coffin and saw his mother…she looked like a broken doll…Shane lowered his head and turned away, and he almost jumped out of his skin when he felt a hand grab his.

Amanda was still alive, but barely…she opened her eyes into tiny slits, and looked at him. "Well son," she said in a low voice, "I guess we know what happens now."

Shane made sure nobody was watching, and he picked her up as gently as he could, and hurried out to the truck. He propped her up in the passenger seat and got the engine started and sped out of there.

* * *

The damage that had been done to Amanda was beyond repair, she would die at any time…the only thing they didn't know was how soon that would be. Shane rushed home as fast as he could manage in the storm, and he got her out and took her into their house…up the stairs, into her bedroom and laid her out on the bed, and waited for the inevitable.

"I always knew they'd try something to put me out of the way…I just didn't know it would be like this," she said.

Shane took her hand in his and held it firmly, hoping that she'd be able to cling on to her life. "Mommy, please don't leave me," he begged her.

"I have to, Shane…we both knew this day would come sooner or later…I was a lucky target for them…but you're not going to be an easy one for them…I know that much."

"M…Mama?"

"You're my son, Shane…my baby…you always were and nothing can change that…I love you very much and I want you to know that."

"I know," Shane could barely speak, "I know, that's why I don't want you to leave me…"

"Don't be so upset, Shane…this isn't the end of it…you'll see, everything will be allright."

"No it won't," Shane replied.

"Shane, I never told you this," she said, "but the day that you were born…I knew you were something special…the doctors said you wouldn't live long…they said you'd probably die before the day was through…but I knew you'd survive. I always knew you'd be something spectacular."

Somehow, there was enough life left in her to keep her going through the rest of the day…the entire time she talked to Shane, and told him about the past.

It was going on 7 that night, the storm had continued all day and still showed no signs of letting up…the rain continued to pour, and the outside was as dark as night.

"Lovely night for a burial," Amanda said.

"Mommy, please don't talk like that," Shane said.

"Well it's true…I never liked the idea of being buried on a bright day…it would put a real damper on things…and you know just as well as I do that I'd never settle for being cremated…just ain't natural."

"I know."

"They buried people back in Biblical times, and it was good enough for them then, so it's good enough for me now."

"I know."

"Shane…"

"Yes, Mommy?"

"I love you…I always have…and I always will."

"I know…I…I love you too, Mommy."

"Now don't go and get upset over me…now I'll be where nobody can touch me…and I can still see you…and that's the best part to dying."

"Mommy, please don't go."

"I have to, Shane…Someone needs me even more…and it's not the best place to look for a fight…He's a lot bigger than you."

"G…Goodbye, Mommy."

"Goodbye, Shane…I'll be seeing you."

Amanda exhaled, and inhaled, and closed her eyes, and that was it. Shane collapsed on the bed crying for the loss of his mother. It took about an hour for him to calm down, and once he was able to think clearly again, all he could think was the fact that the people in that town took her away from him, and they were going to pay.

* * *

Shane covered Amanda with a bed sheet and carried her down the stairs and out to the yard. The rain had turned the entire ground to mud, but he was going to dig her grave anyway, it took longer in the rain that it would've dry, but nobody came by and nobody saw him, so there wasn't any problem. He performed the ceremony single handedly, and figured considering he was alone on this; it turned out rather well. After the hole was dug deep enough, Shane went over to his mother and knelt down beside her, and he looked up. "God, I loved my mother more than I ever loved anyone in my life…I know she deserved better than this…a better life…a better son…it's because of me that this happened to her. I know I couldn't give her the proper burial she deserves, but this is as close to what she wanted as can be done…she's in Your hands now…I'm asking on my life, take care of her now."

Afterwards, he picked her up and lowered her into the grave, and as he put the mud back in place, he thought to himself, from the dust we came and to the dust we return, all a part of life. For Amanda, that particular part was over…and now she was probably sitting through another 45 years watching her life again before a final decision was made. But he knew that in the end, it didn't matter because she'd be up there from then on, watching over everything and everyone…just as she was meant to do. Even knowing all that, it wasn't enough to stop Shane from collapsing on top of the freshly covered grave, and crying again.

Nobody came to the house after that, nobody declared his mother dead or alive or missing. Shane didn't know what happened after they found the coffin empty, and he wasn't going to find out because nobody from the funeral parlor or the police ever came to the house. He knew it was because they had no idea what had happened, and they weren't going to go looking on his property, where if Shane were to know what they'd done, he'd probably kill them, and in all honesty, he probably would've. He honestly didn't know, he had never killed anyone in his life, and he wasn't fond of the idea, but what they did to his mother was inexcusable. It was then that he was certain if he ever did see them again, he _would_ kill them, but the opportunity never came up. They left him alone, and he stayed home as much as possible, every night he'd sneak out to where he'd buried Amanda, and talk to her, as if she were really there, and to Shane, she was, and she always would be.

* * *

By the time Shane had finished his story, he was unable to say anything over his crying, which had increased greatly during the explanation. So there it was, Kronos got his answer, the one thing he never wanted to hear but he needed to hear, and he'd heard it. Now, Kronos was still behind Shane, he hadn't moved at all during that time, and he was thankful for the darkness that surrounded them, he didn't want Shane to see that he'd become as much a mess as he was. He was the only parent Shane had right now and decided he had to pull himself together for his sake. It was nearly an hour before he said anything, until then he didn't trust himself to say anything, he was worried if he did he'd break. When he was finally able to talk, he asked Shane quietly, "Shane, can you get up?"

Shane nodded, "yes."

"Good…stand up, Shane…I want you to come with me."

Shane did as he was told, once he got up he asked, "where're we going?"

"Back to my room," Kronos said, before Shane could protest he continued, "I know you prefer sleeping on the floor to a bed…how that can be is beyond my mind, however…for tonight I'd like to keep you where I can keep an eye on you, and I don't do well if I have to spend the night on the floor."

Kronos managed to get Shane settled into bed, but shortly after doing so, there was a problem, Shane kept moving from side to side and he showed no sign of resting.

"Daddy?"

"What?"

"I can't get comfortable on this bed."

The problem was easily fixed once Kronos got a few more pillows out of the closet, and fit 2 under his shoulder blades, 1 under his back, 2 under his thighs, 1 under his shins, and 2 under his feet. How he could be comfortable like that, Kronos couldn't figure and guessed he didn't want to, as long as Shane was comfortable now and he would sleep, that was all that mattered.

"Goodnight, Shane."

"Goodnight, Daddy."

Kronos turned over on his side of the bed, and offered a silent 'goodnight' to Amanda, knowing that wherever she was, she could hear him. As he was on the verge of falling asleep, he was almost certain he could hear her reply, "goodnight, Kronos, you smug son of a bitch."

* * *

Methos had done a good job of being the entertainment for the night to take everyone's minds off the storm, Richie and Amber's minds particularly. In fact, he'd done such a good job that they went with him up to his room and insisted on staying with him for the night. It wasn't too much anything new, lately every night it had been the three of them all smashed together in one bed. And now here they were again, all smashed in one bed, Methos in the middle with them on either side of him, blocking him from getting up.

"Let's here another one," Amber said.

"Another one?" Methos repeated, "I swear you kids are going to be the end of me one of these days."

"Oh come on, Methos, humor us," Richie said.

"Just until we go to sleep."

"I hope that's soon," Methos replied, "okay…it was the summer of 1933…I was staying with these two yuppies, Jack and Bo Shavers…they lived with their Uncle Maurice…"

"Did they live on a farm too?" Amber asked.

"No…this place was a mansion of its time, it had glass chandeliers on high ceilings, suits of armor in every corridor…"

"And don't tell me, golden sidewalks and a spitting angel fountain in the living room, right?" Richie asked.

"Wrong…in good weather it wasn't bad…however whenever a storm came up, you never knew what would happen. Bo and Jack were a couple of real cowards, they hid every time a storm came up."

"Why?" Richie asked.

"That's something I could never figure out, but they always took me with them," Methos said.

"Where did they hide?" Richie asked.

"Under the bed," Methos explained, "anyway…"

"Whose bed?" Amber asked.

"Uncle Maurice's bed…that's whose bed…anyway, one night in July it was storming up something awful…and like clockwork the three of us were under his bed while he was supposed to be asleep. But you try sleeping with three bumpkins under the bed shaking it…you get motion sick…and he knew that, and he woke up and put on the hurricane lamp, and he ordered us to get out from under the bed or he would shoot, because he didn't know that it was us down there. That's the strangest thing, ordinarily he slept right through it during a storm, he never noticed us before…so we came up and we…"

Methos looked down and saw that Richie and Amber had already fallen asleep. Methos sighed and grabbed a blanket that was laying on the headboard and spread it out over the three of them. He had to laugh, right now with the three of them all smashed together, they looked happier now in their sleep, than they had in weeks since this whole mess had started. He held them close and murmured, "goodnight my dear children", then he shut off the light. Now he'd been in a lot of uncomfortable positions in his life, but this was one of the stickiest. He knew he had no right saying what he did, they were more MacLeod's children than his own, but tonight he felt more like a father than he had in centuries. It was wonderful to him to actually be able to feel like a father again, and now he figured he knew just what had been going through Kronos' mind since he found out about Shane.

I just hope we find them soon, he thought before he too drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Shane woke up when he heard something that at first sounded like a wounded animal…once he was partially awake he thought it sounded like a hurt dog whimpering, but when he turned around he realized it was his father. Kronos was turning from side to side and he appeared to be in agony, Shane couldn't tell what was the matter but he had an idea of what might help. He reached over to Kronos and grabbed him and rolled him over to him, and he held him close as he'd done with Methos a long while back.

Poor Daddy, he thought, he's had a busy day and gone made himself tired.

No matter, Shane was sure that come morning, everything would be looking better than it currently was.


End file.
